


Breaking Down the Walls

by EverAtYourSide



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Futaba's uncle is a douchebag, Gen, M/M, Panic Attacks, Ryuji is a Good Boy, akiren has PTSD, akiren just deserves all the love and more, and he doesn't process his feelings in a healthy way, but this could also be read as gen if you want, pegoryu is implied, the phantom thieves don't tolerate anyone going after their leader
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:48:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25364128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EverAtYourSide/pseuds/EverAtYourSide
Summary: During Sojiro’s confidant route, there is a point where Futaba’s uncle tries to physically harm her. Akira steps in to stop him, the uncle falls down, and he then retaliates by yelling about suing him. I personally felt as though this moment would be considerably significant for him, considering his whole situation and I was disappointed this wasn’t ever addressed in the game.Through this fic, I really wanted to explore the idea of what would happen if Akira was given time to properly work through these feelings, how they would affect him moving forward and how it would change the way he ultimately views his role in the Phantom Thieves.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Sakamoto Ryuji, Kurusu Akira/Sakamoto Ryuji, Persona 5 Protagonist/Sakamoto Ryuji
Comments: 56
Kudos: 187





	1. Here we go again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow... it's certainly been a bit since I've actually posted something on Ao3... ಠ_ಠ Been real busy with life and whatnot, but since I've had quite a bit of free time from all the COVID quarantine, I found some time to start writing again... so that's something at least, right?
> 
> This is the first fic I've ever posted for Persona 5, but ever since I finished the game last summer, the world and characters and everything have no joke, stolen my heart. This is just one of the many ideas that have been floating around my head for some time now. I do have the entire fic drafted already and I just need to do some finishing edits on them before posting, so I should be able to update this fic pretty regularly.
> 
> Before we start, I want to give special thanks to [countingpaperstars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/countingpaperstars/pseuds/countingpaperstars) who beta'd this chapter for me. All of their fics are awesome, so if you have a moment to check out any of their stuff, you totally should. ^_^
> 
> Anyway, hope you all enjoy!

“Hey Futaba… if I was gonna add something to the menu, what would you want it to be?” Sojiro asked. Futaba lay spread out in one of the booths as Akira finished washing the dishes left from the handful of customers that had come by the café that day.

Sojiro had asked Akira to help out once he got back from school; and with Akira still feeling indebted to the man who had taken him in when nobody else could be bothered, it seemed wrong to do anything else but accept.

Morgana made it a habit to complain about being bored on the nights that Akira helped out at Leblanc, so he wasn’t at all surprised when he noticed Morgana slip out the large window in his room before he even had a chance to shed his school uniform.

Akira learned not to get too worried about what trouble Morgana got into when he ventured out to explore the city on his own. Sometimes he would be gone for a couple hours and sometimes he wouldn’t come back until the next day, but he always seemed to manage things okay and that was the important part, right?

Akira pushed the roaming thoughts of all of Morgana’s potential adventures to the back of his mind as he finished things up with the dishes. He carefully placed them back where they belonged, making sure not to break anything otherwise he’d be in deep shit.

After closing the cabinets where the dinnerware was stored, Akira decided to busy himself with wiping down the bar. The more he got done now, the less he would have to do later when Sojiro officially closed and headed back to the house with Futaba.

“Hmmm….” Futaba hummed to herself, as she considered the question posed to her. “Maybe curry spaghetti!” She exclaimed. “And curry udon! Oh, and curry croquettes, and curry pizza!”

“You really like curry that much….?” Sojiro chuckled, lightly. “Well, I guess it’d be pretty easy, given the current menu. I’ll give it some thought.”

“How about you?” Sojiro asked as his eyes flicked over towards Akira. “Anything you’d wanna add to the menu?”

Akira couldn’t help but be caught off guard, wondering if Sojiro was just messing with him, or if he was looking for a genuine answer.

“You want my suggestion?”

Sojiro let out another light chuckle. “Just be sure it’s something you can make, okay? You’re gonna have to prep the food too, you know.”

“Yeah! Go Akira, go!” Futaba loudly cheered.

Akira tipped his head slightly, his fingers coming up to cover his mouth. He thought about what kind of dishes would be easy to prepare, while also working well with the current available menu, but his thoughts were interrupted when the small bell above the front door let out a sharp chime.

“Why haven’t you answered my calls?”A man shouted as he stormed into the café, stopping only a couple feet before Akira.

He quickly realized the strange man who had barged in was none other than Futaba’s uncle. This wasn’t the first time said man had come barging into Leblanc without warning and it likely wouldn’t be the last.

“Leave _now_ , or else I’ll be forced to contact the police.” Sojiro replied, as he attempted to maintain the ounce of self-control currently preventing him from punching the other man square in the jaw. Sojiro was _done_ with the futile effort of trying to placate this man.

“I’m not giving you a penny,” he finished, just daring the other man to test his resolve.

“What was that…? Quit fucking with me!” The man shouted as he shot the nastiest look he could manage towards a still steadfast Sojiro.

A couple tense moments passed, with Futaba’s uncle refusing to break eye contact with Sojiro and vice versa while both men refused to back down in a silent battle of will.

“Stop it!” Futaba finally yelled, jumping up out of her seat to place herself between the two feuding men, unable to stand the tension for even another second. “Sojiro didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Shut your mouth, brat! It’s your fault I’m in this mess!” The uncle hissed right back, causing Futaba to flinch backwards.

“Look, Futaba’s my daughter.” Sojiro cut in as he calmly walked out from behind the bar and placed a comforting hand on Futaba’s trembling shoulder. “You may be her uncle, but you have no connection to her anymore. We can take it to court if you really want. Don’t underestimate how hard I’m willing to fight.”

“What…!?”

Whatever the uncle had been expecting Sojiro to say, it was definitely not an invitation for them to battle things out in court. Until just recently… hadn’t Sojiro been desperate to avoid that very thing?

Before the man even had a chance to think of how to respond, Sojiro’s voice cut through the short silence.

“Not only do you have massive debt, but I heard you failed in your most recent business venture. How do you think the court would respond if they knew how wasteful you were with your money…?”

“Goddammit…!” the other man roared, now having been pushed into an absolute rage as things started to spiral out of his control. “This is all your fault, you bitch! You cursed little…” Futaba’s uncle exclaimed as his vision went red and he charged forward.

He was going to make this brat _pay._

“Futaba!”

“Eek!” Futaba exclaimed in fright as her whole body instinctively shrank backwards, only to find Akira swiftly and expertly inserting himself in between her and her irate uncle.

Futaba’s uncle didn’t take well to this sudden intervention, his eyes glaring daggers at all three people in front of him; but focusing most of his attention on the one damn kid who dared to oppose him. He may not be the strongest guy out there, but that didn’t mean he was about to let some goddamn, good-for-nothing high-school delinquent get away with challenging him like this.

Unfortunately for Futaba’s uncle however, Akira wasn’t just some run of the mill high schooler. In the clash between this irate and desperate man and the infamous leader of the Phantom Thieves… there wasn’t even a question who the winner was going to be.

All it took for Akira to settle things was a split-second dodge to avoid a single clumsy punch and the older man quickly found himself splayed out face flat against the ground groaning.

Akira had had a harder time dodging the pieces of chalk thrown at him by Ushimaru during class when the man thought he was slacking - and that was saying something, since Akira was now at the point of dodging those on sheer instinct alone.

“Hrgh…Urgh…” the man muttered slowly as he attempted to gather himself from this sudden and unexpected fall from grace.

Akira’s face remained completely neutral through the whole exchange, not entirely sure what the other would try next, if anything at all. One thing that he _did_ know though, was he was damn ready to do whatever it took to keep this man from laying a single finger on Futaba.

Akira was ready; he was sure he could take anything this man might possibly throw at him.

And then, in the upset of the century, it only took five short words uttered by the other man in order to dismantle Akira’s nearly impenetrable composure almost instantly.

“This is assault… I’ll sue!!!”

The moment Akira heard those words, his entire world froze.

The entire café seemed to fade away as those five words kept echoing and pounding at the inside of his skull, vibrating and tumbling everything around in a constant, deafening and repeating pattern.

Akira started seeing flashes - flashes of _that moment_.

The singular moment in his life where everything went completely and utterly wrong.

The moment when he became the victim of an unfair, and unjust system… his entire life uprooted and dismantled by the words of one corrupt and powerful man.

And now…? Now, it was happening all over again.

All because he refused to allow injustice to occur right in front of him while there was something he could to fight it.

He would never regret choosing to protect those who needed it. Neither Arsene, nor himself, would ever allow such thoughts to seriously cross his mind while the two of them maintained their current partnership… and yet, this time… things were different.

If he thought the system was unkind and unfair to him the first time around… it was surely nothing compared to how things would play out after being charged with assault for a _second_ time.

There would be no leniency, no getting off with just probation. He would be locked up faster than he could blink. After all, he had been constantly reminded of this fact by practically every adult who knew of his record since he arrived in Tokyo this past April.

His head felt like it was about to explode and yet the pressure and the deafening echo of the man’s outburst only seemed to get louder and more painful as it echoed through his head.

“This delinquent attacked me! He’s dangerous!” The man’s voice kept yelling and it made Akira’s throat close tighter and tighter until he was sure he couldn’t breathe.

Akira was pretty sure he could hear Sojiro’s voice say something back, but it was just as muddled as his pounding and spinning head. It was all Akira could do to stay standing and yet at the very same time he felt like his entire body was frozen to the spot, unable to move a single muscle even if he wanted to.

“The café’s finished, you hear me!?” the accusatory voice shouted once more, cutting through the haze clouding his head and Akira couldn’t help but flinch at the harsh words. “I won’t let you get away with this!”

The bell on the front door chimed loudly - _Has the café bell always been that deafeningly loud?_ Akira couldn’t help but wonder as he stayed rooted to the spot, unsure of whether he should be worried or relieved now that the other man had finally left.

“God damn… What a pain in the ass.” Sojiro muttered roughly, sighing as he finally started walking back towards the small kitchen. “Don’t you have enough problems already?”

Everything had happened so quickly. It had been sheer instinct on his part to step in to shield Futaba from her abusive uncle. He would never forgive himself if he let anything bad happen to her and he had been able to do something to prevent it.

And yet, it was over.

It was all over.

Just like last time, there would be nothing that he would be able to do or say to change anyone’s mind.

“I… I didn’t do anything wrong….” Akira muttered slowly, only barely loud enough for Sojiro or Futaba to hear him as he struggled to keep his breathing normal. “I-I… I was just protecting Futaba…”

Sojiro let out an indiscernible noise that Akira couldn’t place before speaking.

“Nobody said you did anything wrong. To be honest, it should’ve been me trying to stop him.” Sojiro replied as his gaze moved from Akira to Futaba, who was still comfortably half-hidden behind him. “Are you okay, Futaba?”

“Mm-hm…” she hummed softly as she stepped out from behind Akira, looking over towards Sojiro before frowning.

“Uncle said he’s gonna sue…” She paused once more before finishing, a tinge of genuine concern evident in her voice. “What’s gonna happen to Akira….? You can’t let them take him away, Sojiro!”

“Right, Aki- ra…?” Futaba started to say as she turned back around, only to find the figure she had been hiding behind mere moments ago was already disappearing up the back stairs towards his make-shift bedroom.

“So…jiro….?” Futaba asked, the tone in her voice drenched in worry. “Was it something I did….? Or said…?”

Sojiro pulled the large pot of curry off the stove - not needing Leblanc burning down on top of everything else that had just happened - and quickly walked back over to where Futaba was standing, placing his hands comfortingly on her shoulders.

“I’m not sure… but don’t worry,” Sojiro reassured. “I’m gonna go up and talk to him. We’ll get this figured out.”

“But Sojiro, I-” Futaba started to say.

“I’m gonna grab your dinner, and you are gonna sit here and eat it.” Sojiro insisted as he led the young girl over towards an empty booth. “I’ll go up and touch base with the kid, okay?”

“But Sojiroooooooo…” Futaba moaned sadly, pouting until Sojiro gave her _that_ look before she finally relented and sat down.

“Fine….” She sighed in defeat, “but if you’re not back in 30 minutes, I’m coming in after you…!”

“Yeah, yeah…” Sojiro chuckled as he grabbed a clean plate, filled it with curry and deposited it in front of her. “Fine. 30 minutes… but not a minute sooner, okay? And no cheating.”

“Yes, sir!” Futaba shouted as she energetically saluted in Sojiro’s direction. Then she proceeded to shovel the delicious curry into her mouth as quickly as she could manage.

* * *

As Sojiro emerged from the top of the stairs, the first thing he noticed was Akira sitting on his bed, hugging his knees tightly up against his chest, his head facing towards the window as it rested atop them.

To any random stranger it probably looked like he was simply resting his head. Although, after getting more familiar with a lot of Akira’s usual habits and behaviors over the past couple of months, Sojiro knew better than to believe things were ever that simple.

“You uh,” Sojiro started. It was at that moment that he realized just how bad he was at this whole comforting people in distress thing. He must have gotten caught up in the moment, wanting to reassure Futaba… and maybe he should have thought this out a bit more before charging upstairs thinking he was qualified to help anyone. Oh well, he had already come all the way up here, so he would just have to make do and hope for the best. “You okay, kid?”

Sojiro wasn’t sure if Akira had heard him since he didn’t get any kind of verbal response, nor did he seem to make any concentrated effort to respond any other way. Sojiro had to keep in mind though that this was the very same person who wasn’t one for hot conversation on his very best day… so he likely wouldn’t be super raring to talk about anything right now.

“I guess I should be thanking you for stepping in for Futaba. I know I said it before, but it’s true.” Sojiro tried again, hoping this time he would get something he could work with, but his attempt was once again met with nothing silence.

“Not sure what you’ve got going on inside that head of yours, but you gotta know… I’m not gonna let anyone lay a finger on you. I’m your guardian after all.” The man smiled warmly as he approached the young boy, laying what he hoped was a reassuring hand on his shoulder only to rescind it immediately when he realized the kid’s entire body had started trembling.

“I have a duty to protect both you and Futaba,” he continued with a sense of renewed determination. “And that’s what I intend to do, but you gotta - I don’t know… give me something to work with…?”

Silence.

“You know it’s impossible for me to help you if you won’t talk about it, right?” Sojiro continued with a loud sigh of frustration. “If it’s about what that good for nothing said about coming after you, then don’t worry. Futaba and I were both witnesses and neither of us will have any problem telling the police what really happened.”

More silence.

Sojiro hung his head, not knowing what else he could possibly say that would get through to the very obviously not okay kid in front of him. Maybe he _should_ have let Futaba come up with him. Ever since her own recent miraculous recovery, she and Akira had become thick as thieves. Futaba would probably know what to say to get the kid to open up.

Had this happened even a couple months earlier, Sojiro would likely have cut his losses right then and there and left. Those very same last couple of months had done wonders to change Sojiro’s misconceptions about the boy he had taken in almost on a whim.

Akira never hesitated to help around the café; he was always respectful and never rude to anyone, even if they were rude to him… and his friends…? The kid’s friend group just seemed to keep growing with each coming month. There always seemed to be a new person popping up here and there and Sojiro had honestly started to lose track of all the people that kept popping into the café for one reason or another. They never had anything but glowing comments to say about the kid, and it was getting easier and easier by the day to see why.

Akira might not be the best at keeping up a long conversation, but he was, as Sojiro had come to find, a great listener and someone who was just really easy to talk to. Not only did he listen without complaint, but he almost always ended up giving some pretty damn good advice.

Walking away and turning his back on him now seemed like it would be a real kick in the ass, and not in the good way. In the end, did Sojiro really need to give him yet another reason to distrust those around him?

 _Well ain’t this just a pain… what the hell am I supposed to do now?_ Sojiro thought to himself as he hesitantly scratched the top of his head in confused frustration.

And then Sojiro could have almost sworn he heard a sound… a soft voice that was muffled behind tucked limbs and layers of clothing.

Sojiro couldn’t make out what was said, but it was easily the most he had managed to get from the kid since he came up here.

“You know, you’re gonna have to speak louder than that.” Sojiro chuckled softly as he knelt down next to the bed so that they were both at the same level. “These old ears aren’t what they used to be. Can’t hear whispers worth shit anymore.”

“…don’t…want… t’ go…” The voice came again, a little bit louder this time. “Sorry… I-I didn’t…” Akira kept mumbling, and Sojiro wasn’t sure if he was just mumbling to himself or not, but it was still better than nothing. “My fault… again…”

“Okay, kid. We need to get something straight before we go any further with this.” Sojiro sighed before looking directly at the boy still huddled in a tight ball before him. “But before we get to that. I need you to look at me.”

Sojiro wasn’t sure if Akira would oblige, seeing as how long it took just to get the boy in front of him to simply acknowledge his presence. However, by some small miracle it only took about ten to fifteen seconds before Akira managed to slowly lift his head from where it had been resting on his knees.

It was hard to miss the obvious dampness around his young charge’s eyes. They were completely void of their usual glint, a usual playful mixture of silent strength and determination. The only thing Sojiro saw now was fatigue and a tired resignation.

“You have done. NOTHING. Wrong.” Sojiro stated loudly. “Thank you for stepping in to protect Futaba. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. You are my responsibility now, and just like you protected Futaba, it’s my job is to protect you.

“And before you start thinking it’s just because I’m your legal guardian right now, that’s not it. I’m going to protect you, because I know that despite any misguided rumors or anything that anyone says about you… you’re a good kid.” Sojiro continued hoping his words would in some way comfort the very distraught teen before him.

“Now that we have that taken care of, do you want to tell me what exactly it was that caused you to shut down like this? It can’t just be because of what just happened with Futaba’s uncle…” Sojiro finally finished, hoping that the kid wasn’t about to fall back into immovable silence.

Even though Akira still remained very much silent, he was definitely not uninvolved in the conversation. It almost seemed… as though he were silently fighting with himself over whether or not he wanted to come clean to his guardian. His eyes kept darting around the room before coming back to look in Sojiro’s direction, before flicking away again a moment later.

Finally, after what had to be a good forty-five seconds or more of mental debate, the dark-haired boy took a deep breath, unfurled himself from his previous position, and stretched his hands out in front of him. He looked back down at the floor and spoke in a soft, yet more discernible voice.

“I don’t know what happened…” Akira finally breathed out, “At least, not really…” he paused as though he was carefully considering his words before continuing.

“I remember stepping in to protect Futaba… and then he said…” Another pause. “And well, it was the same exact thing the guy who got me arrested back home said; and well, you know how well that ended up… and uh- I don’t know...” Akira kept muttering slowly as he kept talking himself through it all.

“When I heard those words, I could feel my chest constricting and it was almost like… fuck, I don’t know… I felt like I was trapped inside my own body. I couldn’t move, I could barely think…” Akira took another deep breath as he fought against the panic that started swelling in his chest.

As Sojiro continued to listen, he was honestly at a complete loss. He wanted to help comfort the kid, but he really was shit at this kind of stuff. Before Akira showed up, Sojiro never really spent much time talking to other people about their feelings… maybe that was one of the reasons it took so long for him to really start connecting with Futaba. Who the fuck knows, but he did know this was not a time he could just shove his or someone else’s feelings aside.

Sojiro waited for Akira to continue, but when he fell silent Sojiro was pretty sure that meant it was his turn to say something.

In the silence, he couldn’t help but think about Wakaba… what would she say if she were in his place? She did always know how to deal with this stuff in a way he never could.

 _Well, here goes nothing…_ Sojiro thought to himself as he tried to think of what he could say.

“I can’t say I know what you’re going through, or even what you went through… but I can at least speak for your situation now.” Sojiro finally replied, hoping that it might help provide even a little bit of reassurance. “I can and I am telling you that this time, things are different.”

“But you heard him, didn’t you…?” Akira quickly came back as his voice started to waiver. “He’s going to come after me. With my previous conviction, they won’t waste any time sending an officer over here to arrest me and there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it. This is _exactly_ what happened last time.”

“I told you, you’re not-”

“I _can’t_ go back. Not-not now…” Akira came back, his voice pleading, interrupting Sojiro mid-sentence. “Please… I can’t go back… they’ll, they’ll- and I don’t want…” Akira continued mumbling as he wrapped himself up tightly once more, his arms grasping his legs even tighter than before. He buried his head between his legs, rocking his body slowly as he futilely attempted to hide himself away from the world.

It broke Sojiro on so many levels to see how much damage Futaba’s idiot of an uncle had done just by uttering a couple of poorly chosen words. He couldn’t believe that the normally unshakable high schooler - who always seemed to take everything in stride and never let anything bother him - was the same one that was curled up on his bed, terrified of the very thought of the people that had sworn an oath to serve and protect him.

Sojiro wished he could tell the kid that the truth would come out and justice would prevail, but it was pretty evident that Akira had been screwed by Japan’s broken legal system before. If Sojiro sat by and did nothing, it could very well happen once again.

So, Sojiro did the only thing he could think of and gently laid his hand on Akira’s still trembling back, rubbing it in what he hoped was a soothing manner. He remembered his own mom doing so when he was a boy who was young and scared.

“We’re going to work through this together, okay kid? I meant what I said when I told you you’re not alone in this anymore.”

Before Akira even had a chance to react or reply, Sojiro heard the distinct sound of footsteps rapidly climbing up the stairs.

“Sojiroooooo….!” Futaba called loudly as she practically flew up the stairs. “Your time’s up!”

“Futaba, keep your voice down, will you?” Sojiro asked calmly as he carefully stood up from where he had been crouched next to Akira.

“Oh, uh- how are you doing, Akira?” She asked honestly, her voice much softer now as she approached him. “Are you uh- okay…?”

As if by some sort of switch, the moment Futaba had loudly reached the top of the stairs, Akira seemed to snap himself out of whatever funk he worked himself into and attempted to wipe away any stray tears still glistening on his cheeks.

“I’m sorry I worried you,” he apologized as he rearranged himself so that he was once again sitting on the side of his bed. “I’m fine now.” Futaba sat down next to him, resting her head against his shoulder.

“I really am sorry about my stupid uncle….” she replied, her voice having lost all of its playfulness from moments before. “But Sojiro and I will definitely tell the police what really happened. There’s no way they’ll be able to take you away from us… right, Sojiro??”

“Yeap.” Sojiro nodded.

Futaba smiled as she squeezed Akira’s arm supportively, before looking up at the other with her usual wide grin. “So, since that’s settled… we should _definitely_ do something fun tonight so that we can stop thinking about how mean my uncle is…!”

The attic was silent for a moment while Futaba was busy trying to figure out what the most fun activity for the evening would be.

_We could watch that one new movie- but wait…! There’s also that awesome game I started playing yesterday that’s hella addicting- hmm… you know, I think Akira would pick up the mechanics super quick… Oh man, the possibilities are endless…!_

“Well, I guess I’ll leave you two to it.” Sojiro smiled, knowing Akira was in good hands. “I’m going to head downstairs and start cleaning up, before heading on home.”

“I can-” Akira started to say before he was immediately waved off by the older man.

“Don’t bother. I really should clean up every now and again, can’t keep being spoiled by you all time.” Sojiro started heading towards the staircase. “Have a good night. And Futaba?”

“Yeah?”

“Try to get back home before the sun rises.”

“Yes, sir!” Futaba yelled, enthusiastically.

Once Sojiro had disappeared down the stairs, Futaba turned back to face Akira, her face grinning wide.

“Oh man… so many options, so little time…” Futaba said as she started rubbing her hands together. “I’m thinking that we should definitely watch this one movie first, and then after that I can go grab this new game that I just got the other day. It’s a fighter, which I would say normally pales in comparison with fighting shadows in the metaverse, but it also has this really interesting strategy and leveling mechanic…”

Futaba kept rambling on and on about the game and Akira couldn’t help but admit that even though he was still on edge about everything, it was nice that Sojiro had been right in one respect. Things _were_ different this time.

Last time this had happened, it had been him against the rest of the world.

This time, however, he had his friends that he knew would stand by him. He had Futaba and Sojiro, who had already said several times they were more than willing to fight for him. It was a weird and unfamiliar feeling, but a good one all the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone for reading!!! 
> 
> I hope you are enjoying things thus far, there is MUCH more craziness and mayhem in store without a doubt. >:)
> 
> If you enjoyed the fic even the least bit, it would really mean a lot to me if you could leave a comment, even if it's just a word or two, they really do encourage me to keep writing...!
> 
> Thanks again, and I guess I'll hopefully catch y'all next time. <3


	2. The Wait is What's Killing Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to start out by thanking everyone for all the kudos and comments I got for the first chapter...! I really and truly appreciate every single one of them! I'm glad that people have been enjoying things thus far, and I hope y'all continue to enjoy things as we make our way through the story!
> 
> Once again, a HUGE thanks to [countingpaperstars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/countingpaperstars/pseuds/countingpaperstars) who beta'd the chapter for me. Thanks for all of your continued help~! <3
> 
> And without any further ado... Enjoy...!

Nearly two weeks had passed since the incident with Futaba’s uncle.

Akira was pretty sure Futaba and Sojiro had all but forgotten about the whole thing; but for him? It was something that always seemed to be sitting and stewing in the back of his mind. In the end, it just left Akira waiting for the moment when everything would inevitably go wrong.

The first two days had been the worst.

Every time the bell above the café door rang, Akira couldn’t help it as his entire body tensed and his heart started hammering in his chest. He always found himself unconsciously whipping his head around from whatever he had been doing so that he could see who it was at the door; only to look away embarrassed as he realized it was a false alarm and just one of Sojiro’s regulars.

Futaba tried to help in the best ways she could, which ultimately devolved into trying to keep tabs on what her uncle had been up to. She soon found that only worked so well when he didn’t really have that much of a digital footprint to begin with. She would usually take a break in the evening, just long enough to wander over to Leblanc and chow down on some curry before talking Akira’s ear off about the newest game she had started playing, or whatever new thing she had heard people buzzing about online.

It was only within the past day or so that Akira felt as though he had started falling back into old patterns. He quickly found that the busier he made himself, the less time he had to worry about anything else.

Whether he was helping Sojiro in the café, working his part-time job with Iwai at Untouchable, meeting up with Mishima for new intel about potential targets in Mementos, or following through on a myriad of other varying commitments, Akira refused to allow himself any time to rest. There had barely been a moment in the past week or so where Akira was left alone with his own thoughts, which counted as a success in his own mind.

Akira was surprised when things were particularly lively at Leblanc one night. He wasn’t sure he would call it ‘busy’ by any normal means, but there had definitely been a good amount more people in and out than he sometimes saw over an entire weekend.

As such, Akira wasn’t at all surprised when he was quickly relegated to dish washing duties.

By the time he got to the last couple of plates, it was very nearly closing time. Futaba had shown up not long after Akira, declaring that she wanted to help out as well, which was odd but not necessarily the first time such things had happened and Sojiro gladly accepted.

Having been emotionally, physically, and socially exhausted by helping out, Futaba had already made herself comfortable at the bar and fell asleep almost instantly.

In the meanwhile, Sojiro was currently busy preparing her usual portion of curry for dinner.

There was a comforting lull in the silence that descended between the three of them. Akira found himself zoning out as he listened to the calming sound of the water flowing out of the faucet and onto the plate, before disappearing down the drain.

He became so focused, in fact, his brain didn’t even hear the small café bell ring and wasn’t aware anyone had even entered the café until he heard Sojiro’s voice break through the steady silence.

“S-Sorry, we’re closed for…”

“Sojiro Sakura, I presume?” A sharp and unfamiliar female voice rang through the deserted café.

“Our apologies for coming in so late,” another strange and more timid voice added. “We’re from the domestic affairs court.”

“My name is Officer Yasu and we have recently received a report that one of your customers was assaulted by the probationer residing here.”

The sound of a plate smashing against the hard floor suddenly echoed around the small café, causing all heads to turn towards the sink where the sound had originated.

Akira’s head started to spin as his heart plummeted. His heart felt as though it shattered right alongside the busted plate in a couple hundred pieces strewn about the floor.

He really should have seen this coming a mile away.

Despite everything Sojiro and Futaba had said and how much he wanted to believe them, deep down he really should have known it was only a matter of time.

He could feel his heart start beating faster and faster, hammering in his chest while the rest of his body seemed to freeze all over again.

What he wouldn’t give to have the woman start laughing, revealing all of this to be the butt of some really bad joke. Then she could just leave him to ride out the rest of his panic attack in peace.

However, as unfortunate as it might be, it was pretty damn clear that wasn’t an option.

The barely concealed expression of hostility and resentment on the female officer’s face didn’t serve help to assuage his fears either. It was a look Akira would never be able to forget, after all.

It was the same exact expression the cops that had arrested him back in his hometown had been wearing. They would _say_ they’re just doing their jobs to clean up their streets and protect the public, but Akira knew that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“Akira didn’t do anything!” Futaba shouted, pulling Akira abruptly from the chain of thoughts that had been steadily clouding his mind. “Right, Sojiro?!” she continued, practically pleading with the older man to set the record straight. “Tell them about how Akira was just defending me, and how he didn’t even touch him!”

“Calm down, Futaba-” Sojiro had started to say, before he found himself cut off by the overbearing woman.

“Moreover,” she continued with a deep scowl as she looked right at Sojiro, “there is another report stating that you are abusing your child, Futaba-san. I’d rather not have to bring all three of you down to the station, so you can either answer my questions willingly here, or my partner and I can escort you downtown.”

“…Fine by me.” Sojiro replied. “I’ve got nothing to hide. Please, take a seat.”

Sojiro motioned for the two officers to slide into one of the open booths and proceeded to sit across from them, while Futaba and Akira chose to watch from the edge of the bar.

When Futaba offered a supporting hand for Akira to hold, he didn’t even hesitate and squeezed it tightly as he attempted to not betray the anxiety steadily building deep within his chest.

“It’s true that Futaba was living as a shut-in,” Akira heard Sojiro say, “but she overcame that weakness under her own power. And… I would never abuse her. She’s like a daughter to me.”

“And what do you think, Futaba-san?” the woman asked, her face softening considerably as she addressed the young girl.

There were a couple moments of silent hesitation, but Futaba ultimately knew she needed to say _something._ She couldn’t stay silent, no matter how much she wanted to just disappear behind Akira.

“I…I’m okay. I couldn’t go out for a while… but everyone helped me get better. I’m not afraid anymore. Th-That’s why…” there was a slight pause as she mentally prepared herself for what she knew she wanted to say. “That’s why I’m really happy living with my D-dad!”

“Futaba…” Sojiro murmured, as the shock and relief swept over his face.

Officer Yasu took a moment to consider Futaba’s heartfelt statement. She turned her head towards her partner and they started to discuss something in hushed tones.

Another minute or so passed before the other man nodded and the woman turned back to face Sojiro.

“Well, after hearing your testimony, it appears there was no truth to the report received about Futaba-san being abused.”

There was a collective sigh of relief shared between Sojiro, Futaba, and Akira as they heard this, but any celebration they might have had was instantly halted once the woman continued.

“While it is clear that there was no truth to the abuse claim, we still need to settle the matter of the assault.”

Akira felt those words like a physical punch to his gut and he had to brace himself from gasping.

“We looked into him and his criminal record points to a history of such violence. It’s not hard to believe that he would be capable of something like this.”

“You’re wrong!” Futaba shouted, before she even had a chance to stop herself.

“He never laid a finger on the guy.” Sojiro stated, careful but confident. “All he did was stand in the way to try and protect Futaba.”

“Hmm…” the woman murmured to herself, unfazed by neither Futaba’s outburst nor Sojiro’s insistence. “I guess it seems this is where your compliance comes to an end.”

“Our… compliance…?” Sojiro muttered underneath his breath, as he attempted to work out what exactly the officer had meant. “We have yet to say anything that is untrue. You agreed with us just a moment ago that the claim about Futaba was false… what makes you think we would start lying now?”

“The circumstances between the two cases are very different,” the woman shot back tersely. “I can believe the claim with Futaba was falsified because there were no previous convictions, nor any substantial evidence to back up the one anonymous claim.”

“Akira hasn’t-” Futaba started to say, before Officer Yasu shot her a look that could smash boulders and she fell silent.

“The probationer here has a history of violence on his record and it’s not that much of a leap to assume he would be capable of what was described in the report. I can’t say whether or not he will be convicted, but the situation certainly calls for further investigation. I feel as though you, Sakura-san, the proprietor of this business, would want to do whatever was necessary to protect your clientele going forward,” Officer Yasu continued, refusing to hold anything back.

“Yeah, of course I would never want to willingly endanger any of my clients,” Sojiro insisted, “but I’m telling you that I was here when the whole thing went down and the charge is 100% bullshit since this kid didn’t touch anyone.”

“The plaintiff claims to have experienced things very differently,” the officer insisted, her face the picture of complete neutrality. “He claims that the probationer lunged at him without warning and he incurred significant injuries as a result.”

“Well that’s obviously complete and utter crap-”

“The only thing I can say for sure is that one side in this particular issue is lying. That is a fact I will not try and refute.”

“At least we can both agree on something.” Sojiro grunted. “I have been _trying_ to tell you that we are the ones who have been telling the truth, even Futaba-”

“However…” Officer Yasu continued brazenly, staring Sojiro down as she had cut him off, “it is my job to figure out which side is lying. With that being said, Futaba-san may have been present during the incident in question, but I can hardly take the word of a young teenager as credible evidence.” The woman scoffed, her face the picture of utter indignation at Sojiro even having dared to suggest such a thing.

“Are you saying that you refuse to believe what we say, even when you have two eye-witnesses right in front of you that can corroborate what happened?” Sojiro demanded. “You can’t possibly-”

“What’s to say you’re not just lying to cover for your probationer, Sakura-san? After all, I am sure you are well aware of what will happen if he gets convicted...” the woman replied abruptly. “He will be found in violation of his probation and will serve the remainder of his sentence in a Juvenile Hall along with any added time due to his most recent conviction. Once that happens, I’m sure you are _also_ aware that you will no longer be serving as his legal guardian and therefore all support payments coming from the city will also cease.”

Sojiro had sworn to himself once the woman in front of him introduced herself that he would stay calm no matter what. It was absolutely essential that he keep his composure for the sake of both Futaba and Akira. Until now, he had managed to hold in his anger and frustration quite well. However, it all came to a head once that _woman_ decided to bring his motivations for protecting the two of them into question.

He was absolutely _not_ about to allow her to try and paint him to be some greedy old bastard who’s only priority in life was to make money any way he possibly could.

“I would _strongly_ advise you to stop right there if you know what’s good for you,” he replied, slamming his fists on the table. “If you think for one second that I am protecting this kid solely because of any monetary interests I may have in the matter… then you have grossly underestimated how seriously I take my role as his guardian!”

“So you mean to tell me you took this minor in purely from the goodness of your heart, and that the hefty sum of payments that come your way every month had absolutely _nothing_ to do with it?”

Sojiro only hesitated for a moment, more out of shock than anything else at how she was still so adamantly fighting against his words.

“Yeah, well…” he started, scratching the top of his head as he normally did when he got frustrated or nervous. “It may have started out that way… but I-”

“Let me guess,” the woman unapologetically cut in, “As you started to get to know him, your feelings towards him started to change…?”

Sojiro could only stand dumbfounded as he regarded the gall of the woman sitting in front of him. Did she not have a single ounce of compassion in her entire body?

“Yeah, and what if they did…?” Sojiro recovered quickly, determined to have her see the painfully obvious truth. “He doesn’t deserve-”

“Yeah, yeah…” She waved her hand as she completely dismissed any further attempts Sojiro made to continue arguing. “I can absolutely guarantee you that I have heard it all before.”

“I’m telling you-”

“I believe that clears up any further questions I have for you at this time, Sakura-san.” She finished, rising from her seat as she motioned towards her partner to follow.

“Okada,” she continued, just as fiercely as when she had been talking with Sojiro or Akira, rather than with a trusted partner. “You’re in charge of detaining the boy and preparing him for transport back to the station. I don’t want anything happening on the ride over like what happened last week. If that happens again I’ve been told that you’ll be relegated to desk work for the remainder of the month.”

The other man, Okada, practically jumped out of the booth seat, nodding as he nervously started searching for his spare set of handcuffs. Once he found them, he walked over towards a shell-shocked Akira, eyes wide and standing still as a board with Futaba practically attached to his side. 

“Hey now…! Wait one goddamned second will you…?” Sojiro started loudly, jumping to his feet as fast as his body would allow so he could block Okada from advancing any further. “You planning on charging him with something? Because as far as I understood, you told us that you simply wanted to bring him in for questioning. It hardly seems necessary for him to be led out of here in handcuffs??”

“I completely disagree.” The woman said in her infuriating and robotic tone of indifference. “According to the reports I have read through, this boy is a clear and present danger to himself and those around him. It’s only natural that we restrain him to minimize the chance that he may become violent on the way to the station.”

“How many times do I have to tell you-” Sojiro practically spat out in sheer exasperation.

“Sakura-san, I would very truly hate to continue to inconvenience your night any further,” Officer Yasu cut in without hesitation. “And I certainly don’t want to have to go through the trouble of filing all the extra paperwork that would be involved; but if you continue to resist, I will not hesitate to arrest you for attempting to interfere with official police business.”

Sojiro was shocked speechless for the first time that night. He was sure he hadn’t misheard the officer, and yet he still had absolutely no idea what the hell was happening.

As Sojiro begrudgingly stepped aside, Akira was sure he was done for as his lungs felt like they were going to burst from lack of oxygen. His instincts were practically screaming at him to run away – run anywhere he could, up to his room, out the front door – anywhere that was not here. Although in the end, he had a pretty good feeling that wouldn’t last long and it definitely wouldn’t help his case.

Now, if this same encounter had happened in the Metaverse, he was sure things would have turned out differently. He would have called out Arsene without hesitation and all of his enemies would be blown away in an instant, because Joker was the infamous and incredibly powerful leader of the Phantom Thieves and could slip away into the darkness at any given moment or situation.

But the truth was that he was _not_ in the Metaverse, and more importantly, he was not Joker. Here, in the real world, he was nothing more than Akira Kurusu, a regular high schooler who just so happened to get a real shit lot in life.

The sudden sensation of his arms suddenly being jerked behind his back and Futaba being practically ripped from his side pulled him back into the present moment. It took all of his concentration and focus to keep his breathing as regular as possible as he felt the harsh, cold metal of the handcuffs tighten roughly around his trembling wrists for the second time in less than a year. 

As the officer finished tightening the handcuffs enough so that Akira could feel the metal start to cut into his skin, he couldn’t help but let his terrified gaze wander back towards Sojiro, silently pleading that there was still something he would be able to say or do to stop the two officers from taking him away.

However, his desperate hopes were dashed when the only thing he received in response was a frustrated frown. Sojiro could barely stand to look him in the eye. No matter the reason, it was that point in which Akira knew his fate had been sealed.

He had spent so much time these past two weeks fighting against the inevitable, convincing himself that this wasn’t the only way things could end. If he had really looked deep inside himself though, he had known better, but just didn’t want to admit it.

While it was painfully true that he wanted nothing more than to run, scream, or hide away from his current situation, he wasn’t about to give these officers the satisfaction of watching him crumble beneath their grasp. He still had at least that much dignity, and he wasn’t about to cast it away this easily, despite everything.

As with the first time he was arrested, Akira knew there was nothing he would be able to say or do that would serve to change the mind of either of the officers taking him away. Even after he had been sure the worst was over, here it was for him to relive it all over again and more.

“What the hell’s the hold up, Okada? I would _like_ to get home at a somewhat decent time tonight, so get your shit together and let’s get out of here.” The brutish officer berated her partner as she tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for him to start ushering Akira forward. “Honestly… how long does it take to handcuff some delinquent high-schooler…? I’ve seriously got to talk with the Chief about all these hopeless new hires…” She muttered the last part quietly, although still loud enough for everyone in the café to still make out.

“So…jiro…?” Futaba barely breathed, watching helplessly as a silent and resigned Akira was finally led out the door. “You’re not really gonna let them take Akira away for good…. are you…? Y-You’re…. you’re gonna d-do something… right…?”

Futaba couldn’t stop the tears now rolling down her cheeks as she desperately clung to Sojiro for support.

Sojiro himself remained silent, finding himself unable to answer Futaba’s question. Instead, his mind was consumed by the look of utter desperation and defeat on the kid’s face, silently pleading and hoping Sojiro would find a last-ditch effort to keep his side of the promise they had made up in his bedroom attic nearly two weeks ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading!!
> 
> If you enjoyed this chapter at all, it would mean a whole lot if you could leave a comment, even if it's just a word or two, they really do encourage me to keep writing...!
> 
> Thanks again, and I'll hopefully catch y'all next time. <3


	3. Take Your Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to start off this chapter by thanking everyone that has read this story, given kudos or written a comment! I'm super glad that people are enjoying this fic...! I have really enjoyed reading and replying to all the comments I've gotten. It just gets me more and more excited to continue sharing the story with y'all. Thanks so much for the support, I hope everyone continues to enjoy where things go from here.
> 
> Once again, I want to give a HUGE THANK YOU to [countingpaperstars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/countingpaperstars/pseuds/countingpaperstars) for taking the time to look over these chapters for me, even when they have like a million and two other projects they are working on right now.
> 
> Without further ado, please enjoy~!

Futaba spent the next ten minutes crying openly into Sojiro’s apron before she finally fell quiet. A couple minutes later however, it was like a switch flipped in her brain. She jumped up, wiped the tears from her face and sprinted out the café door without so much as a word.

As one would expect, Futaba sprinted straight back to the Sakura household as quickly as she could; spending the next forty-five minutes furiously typing on her computer. She was a veritable whirlwind as she opened a new window here and closed another three there, starting and stopping a whole host of programs one after another, while continuing to type on her computer in a frenzied hurry.

When she finally finished, she pushed her chair back away from her computer and straightened her arms out triumphantly in front of her as she stretched any muscles that might have gone stiff since she had sat down. After she was satisfied with her work, she picked up her phone and sent one simple text to the Phantom Thieves group chat.

_SOS. Meet at Hideout ASAP._

Approximately an hour later, everyone in the group had managed to find their way to Leblanc despite the late hour.

“Comon, Futaba…. you gonna to tell us what the big emergency is, or what?” Ryuji asked, jumping up from his seat.The rest of the group was gathered around the fold-up table they had been using since they started meeting in Leblanc’s attic. “And where the heck is Akira? He lock himself in the bathroom or something?”

The look Futaba gave Ryuji once he mentioned their leader’s name was answer enough, and his face instantly dropped.

“Shit…. Futaba… What the hell happened?!” Ryuji yelled, causing the young girl to flinch.

“Calm down Ryuji…” Ann snapped as she stepped up beside Futaba. “Don’t take your anger out on Futaba... I’m sure she’ll explain the situation to us.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Sorry…” Ryuji muttered.

“Well, it’s a bit of a long story…” Futaba mumbled sadly. Despite everything the rest of the team had done for her, there was still a part of her that wished she didn’t have to tell them about her jerk of an uncle.

While it was true Akira and everyone else had learned all the details surrounding the events of her mother’s death while they had been working through her palace, that didn’t mean they had learned _everything_ about her past.

As things were now, she really only had two choices. Either protect her last remaining secrets and leave Akira to the mercy of those horrible police officers, or swallow her pride and finally tell the rest of the group everything.

“Let us not waste another moment then.” Yusuke cut in through Futaba’s mental debate. Everyone else in the room looked on, not wanting to overwhelm their navigator with questions before she had a chance to explain. “If you could, Futaba… we would be most appreciative to know precisely what has transpired.”

Futaba took a deep breath, nodded, and did her best to explain everything from the very beginning.

She explained everything from when she had been forced to live with her uncle after no other family members would take her, and how she had been abused by said uncle until Sojiro officially took custody from him. She told them about how recently her uncle had come back to Sojiro and started threatening to take her back if Sojiro didn’t give him all of Futaba’s inheritance and more. She told everyone about what had happened two weeks ago and how that ended up leading to everything going completely wrong tonight.

Futaba came close to crying a couple times - out of both frustration and fear for what those officers could be doing to Akira at this very moment - but she also knew no-one else would be able to finish explaining things, so she pushed through and resolved to finish.

After all, Morgana had gotten into the habit of wandering around Yongen-jaya by himself whenever Akira helped out in the café, so it was just pure happenstance that she had found him skulking around the backstreets. He had no more knowledge on what had been happening than anyone else.

“So what’s the plan? We gotta save our leader!” Ryuji asked, before getting uncharacteristically quiet, “Otherwise it’s totally the end of the Phantom Thieves as we know it…”

“For us it might just mean the end of the Phantom Thieves…” Makoto quickly spoke up. “But the potential ramifications for Akira are much more severe. I hate to be the one to say it, but it’s not inaccurate to say Japan’s legal system is historically biased towards the side of the prosecution. Not only that, but with Akira already having been found guilty and subsequently convicted of assault with very little evidence before, there’s no reason to believe he won’t be again.” Makoto took a short breath, considering her words as she finished. “If we don’t figure out a way to help our leader, it’s - as Futaba would say - Game Over.”

Futaba nodded solemnly. She normally would have taken great pride in Makoto’s chosen method of phrasing, but they didn’t have time to celebrate such things right now.

“I agree with Makoto,” Morgana piped up from where he had been sitting on the table. “The stakes here are just as high as any other palace we have infiltrated before, even if the person in question can still be found within Mementos.”

“I guess there’s no other choice…” Futaba said slowly and hopefully loud enough so that everyone would be able to hear. “We need to go to Mementos.”

“And steal the heart of the man who threatened Sojiro and had Akira arrested?” Haru replied, almost instinctively.

“Precisely.” Futaba answered, her resolve and determination unmistakable.

“What are we waiting for then?” Ryuji replied. “Let’s do this!”

* * *

“So I know when we searched for your uncle’s name we got a hit in Mementos, but don’t we need to send him a calling card before we can change his heart?” Ann asked Futaba as the Mona bus and everyone else in it continued traveling further and further down towards the depths.

“Don’t worry about it… Mona already helped me with that.” Futaba replied with a grin. “I wrote an anonymous letter and he helped me make sure it was delivered to my uncle’s address without raising any suspicion. Last time I checked, he was on his way back from a local casino, so he should be seeing it any minute now.”

“Oh, well that’s go- Ow…! Queen!”

“Sorry…!” Makoto apologized loudly as she had to slam on the brakes so as not to get caught in yet _another_ dead end. “Driving Mona around here isn’t nearly as easy as Joker makes it look.” As a result, everyone (including Ann) had been sent flying into the seat (or person) directly in front of them.

“It’s not my fault my brakes are really sensitive…” Mona whined. “But that’s beside the point…! Try not to rough me up too much, cause if I break down anywhere but a safe room, we’ll all be sitting ducks for the Reaper!” Mona finished, albeit a tad more dramatically then he probably needed to be.

“That would certainly not be a picturesque opportunity, so I dare say we avoid it if at all possible,” Yusuke chimed in as he continued rubbing the part of his face that had just been flung into the seat in front of him.

“Hmph… Reaper schmeaper, I bet we could totally take that wannabe out, right guys?!” Ryuji jeered confidently.

“Yeah I don’t know about that…” Mona hummed, “but I do know even if we did stand a chance in any normal circumstances, we DEFINITELY won’t have a glimpse of a chance with our leader MIA.”

“Oh yeah, right…” Ryuji replied, his voice much more solemn and his grin wiped completely from his face. “So uh, how much further until we find the dude that dared to fuck with Joker?”

“Shouldn’t be much longer, right Mona?” Haru cut in, smiling gently as the van sped along down the uneven tracks of Mementos.

“Yeah,” Mona purred in agreement. “I’m not surprised you picked up on it, Noir. Unlike some _other_ people I could mention, you seem to have really good instincts in navigating Mementos.”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean, you damn cat??” Ryuji yelled once more, as he practically flew out of his seat.

“I told you before, I’m not a cat!”

“Okay, okay. We get it guys, no need to get all fussy about it.” Ann cut in before the two kept on bickering the entire rest of the ride. “Let’s just forget about all this pointless squabbling and concentrate on finding this shadow so we can help Joker, okay?”

“Sorry Panther…” Mona frowned before pulling a 180 and purring as he finished. “We’re practically there anyway… thanks to yours truly, of course!”

“Wow… that took no time at all…” Ryuji muttered to himself which caused Ann to dig her elbow into his stomach. He couldn’t help but gasp from the surprise attack.

“Okay guys… I think I see it right up ahead.” Queen announced from the driver’s seat, doing her best to not slam on Mona’s breaks and subsequently send everyone flying forward again for the umpteenth time.

“That gathering of shadows certainly seems to exude a similar air of desperation and confusion that we typically encounter while fighting shadows in Mementos… not a beautiful feeling at all.” Yusuke noted as Mona’s doors flew open and everyone started piling out.

“Yes, I do hope that we can help this man reconnect with his true self once again,” Haru muttered sadly.

“I couldn’t care less about what happens to this douche,” Ryuji added. “As far as I’m concerned, he brought all this on himself since he’s the reason our leader is in such deep shit. I say that he deserves everything that’s coming his way.”

“Regardless of what this man deserves… our first priority is to change his heart.” Makoto’s chimed in as she exited the van and Mona shifted back into his normal thief outfit. “Once he sees the error of his ways, he will hopefully stop pursuing this unfair case against Joker.” There was a slight pause, before she finished. “Make sure everyone is prepared though for whatever this shadow might try to throw at us. We can’t rely on Joker saving us this time if things start to go wrong. It’s time that we start repaying him for everything he has already done for all of us already!”

“An extraordinarily rousing speech, if I do say so myself.” Yusuke grinned as he readied his weapon and the others did the same.

While it still didn’t feel right going into battle without their irreplaceable leader, this was something the group had to do.

As Queen noted, this was everyone’s chance to start paying Joker back for everything he had done for all of them. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that not a single one of their group would be where they were today without him.

* * *

“Th-There it is. It’s my uncle’s Shadow,” Futaba said quietly, as they finally got close enough to recognize the figure. It stood unsteadily as it waited for their inevitable approach. “He’s saying, ‘money, money’… He forced Sojiro to pay back his debts. He made me go through horrible things too.”

“It’s consolation money! It’s reparations!” The distorted shadow yelled as the thieves approached on all sides. “You have to… You have to give me your money! If I have enough money I can keep gambling until I hit another jackpot.” The man stopped mid-rant as he looked the intruders up and down and then, without warning, something inside of him seemed to snap. “If you won’t give me any money,I’m gonna destroy you!”

“I’m not getting destroyed by someone like him!” Futaba shouted. “Let’s go!”

“Life is one big gamble!” The shadow shouted as though welcoming the coming war.

Although, as the unfortunate shadow would soon find out, if there was one thing you shouldn’t do... it was to go after the leader of the Phantom Thieves. 

With all of their hearts on the line, the battle lasted barely any time at all.

Not a single thief held anything back as they all barreled into the shadow with reckless abandon. It was probably sheer, dumb luck that they didn’t completely slaughter the shadow on the spot.

“I lost… It’s all over…” The defeated shadow muttered pathetically to himself. “Wakaba was smart and competent. I’m just a loser, I guess things _would_ always turn out this way.”

“You were thinking about Mom…?” Futaba couldn’t help but gasp at the now defeated man’s candid confession.

“Even back then, I thought just being normal was OK…” the man muttered with a terribly honest and earnest sadness. “Then my whole world changed when I won a lot of money through gambling. I couldn’t forget that feeling… It made me feel like I was smart and competent, like Wakaba!” 

After that, the shadow went eerily silent.

If Joker were here, he would know how to respond. He always seemed to know exactly what to say to give the shadows the pause they needed to contemplate the consequences of their actions.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that Joker was the central pillar, as well as the glue that held everything and everyone together, and a foundation of their continued success as the Phantom Thieves.

 _What are we going to do if this isn’t enough in the end to free him? Changing this man’s heart was our one and only shot at fixing things,_ Futaba wondered anxiously.

She tried to think about what Joker might say in this situation. He would probably tell the shadow to return and repent for their sins… but what if that didn’t work this time?

Right then, an idea flicked on in her brain and she prayed it would be enough.

“What do you think my mom would tell you to do?” Futaba asked hesitantly, but honestly. “Sit here and wallow in your pity? Or go back and make things right?” She had no idea whether or not her words would reach him, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to sit around and do nothing.

Waiting was almost torture, but right as Futaba was about to give up hope, her uncle’s shadow looked up from where he had been staring at the floor and locked gazes with her.

“Ha…hahah… You’re absolutely right… But maybe I’ve realized that too late… Futaba, I’m sorry… Forgive me, Wakaba…”

The shadow had a pensive look on his face and said nothing more as his form slowly started to dissolve in front of Futaba, who could only look on with mixed emotions.

Once the shadow of her uncle had completely faded away, a small bright light was left suspended in the air from where it had been standing moments before.

“Uncle…” Futaba murmured. She couldn’t help but reach out towards the small drop of light in front of her. Since Joker wasn’t there to grab the small treasure, Futaba decided she wouldn’t mind doing it in his place, just this once.

As she turned around to face the rest of the Phantom Thieves, she couldn’t help but smile. Even if this had been just about the worst way to go about it, it was because of this whole horrible ordeal that she had been able to realize that even her rotten old uncle was capable of wanting to change.

“He’ll drop the lawsuit now that we’ve changed his heart, right? Joker should be safe now!” She yelled - more so for everyone else and for Joker’s sake, rather than her own.

This had to work…! It just HAD to. She wasn’t sure she would ever be able to forgive herself if it didn’t. It was after all, _her_ fault that any of this even happened in the first place…. if Akira hadn’t stepped in to protect her from her uncle - no, she couldn’t afford to think like that.

“Yeah, he’s gotta drop the lawsuit now… I’m sure of it!” Ann agreed enthusiastically, as the entire group started back towards the exit.

“If everything works out the way it has in the past, I would expect our leader should be released without too much delay,” Yusuke added.

“Good hustle team… Let’s head back to the entrance ASAP! The next day or two is going to be make or break.” Mona declared. He jumped ahead of the group so he could transform into his van form.

* * *

“So, uh- totally random thought…! But could we maybe have someone else drive us back up to the entrance…?” Ryuji chimed in as casually as he could while everyone was busy finding a seat. “I’m not sure if my stomach can handle much more of Queen’s driving…”

“I already told you guys… it’s a lot harder to drive Mona down here than you think...!” Queen huffed, the mixture of annoyance and considerable embarrassment clear as day across her features. “I’d like to see any of YOU do any better…!”

“Oh, no…” Ann called out from her seat, “I am not staying in any vehicle that has Ryuji Sakamoto at the wheel. I’m not ready for that kind of trauma…! Not now, not ever…!”

“I don’t care who drives me…! As long as we figure out _something_ before the Reaper shows up and decides to make a snack out of us…” Mona moaned.

“If no-one else would like to, I suppose I could try my hand at it?” Haru volunteered cheerfully from the back row. “While it’s true I get driven almost everywhere, my father did hire a private driving instructor for me to make sure I knew how to drive, in case I ever found myself in a situation that would require it.”

“Well, why didn’t you say so in the first place, Noir??” Ryuji laughed. “Coulda saved us a whole lot of hassle, and me a whole lot of nausea on the way down here.”

“How come you’ve never complained about getting car-sick before?” Ann asked, partly as a joke and partly with genuine curiosity. “It’s not like this is the first time we’ve ever driven around in Mementos for an extended period of time.”

“Never really been an issue before… so, I dunno.” Ryuji answered, shrugging his shoulders.

“Okay, well now that we have that settled, let’s start heading back…!” Mona called out, after which Queen and Noir promptly switched seats.

As they left the small pocket of Mementos where they had found Futaba’s uncle’s shadow, it took only one moment for Ryuji to regret his decision to speak up about Queen’s driving.

Sure, it had been a bit chaotic and jerky, but her speed was nothing compared to how fast Haru accelerated as she whipped around corners and sped through long corridors. Haru seemed to be in complete control the entire time, and yet every second that went by was so much more terrifying than anything Queen had managed up until this point.

“What the hell kind of driving instructor did your dad hire…?!” Ryuji shouted as his body was thrown to one side of the van along with everyone else as Haru expertly avoided an oncoming, free-roaming shadow. “Some kind of professional race-car driver…?!”

“Oh, just one of my father’s old friends…” Haru chuckled lightly. She expertly drifted around the next corner so that she was able to make the sharp turn that she was fairly certain would lead to the next Up Escalator. “I almost forgot how free I used to feel during our driving lessons. Although those sessions don’t even hold a candle when compared to driving down here. This is _much_ more fun than those simple practice tracks we drove on all the time.”

Despite everything that had happened today, the one thing Ryuji would never forget was that he was never going to take Joker’s driving for granted _ever_ again. That, on top of many other reasons, showed how badly they needed to get Joker back ASAP. That way, he could make sure Ryuji and the rest of the Phantom Thieves (except for Futaba maybe, who seemed to be enjoying the hell out of this current chaos) didn’t have heart attacks every single time they came down into Mementos.

* * *

Futaba’s Uncle’s change of heart had happened in the dead of night.

It wasn’t like anyone was expecting for things to be resolved right away, but when the next day came and went and the next after that came and went, and there was still no sign of Akira being released from police custody, the rest of the Phantom Thieves were starting to get worried.

Had the change of heart worked..? Or had it been too little, too late?

Futaba had tried to broach the subject with Sojiro in the evening hours of the first day after the change of heart, but the only thing she could get out of the conversation was the fact that Sojiro had already called the station numerous times. Every single time he called, they told him Akira was still being held for questioning, but wouldn’t say much more than that. They assured Sojiro that they would call with any further updates, but neither Sojiro nor Futaba believed a word of it. 

“Don’t the Mementos change of hearts usually happen faster than this though??” Futaba asked. Frustration and exhaustion battled for dominance within both her voice and body as she sat in front of her computer in her room.

“Well yeah, they _are_ usually pretty quick.” Morgana nodded as he curled up in Futaba’s lap. He drifted in and out of slumber as he attempted to keep an eye on the young girl who was practically running on fumes.

“But things are a bit different this time,” he continued. “I’m pretty sure the change of heart worked... but we still need to wait for your uncle to go to the station and officially drop the charges. After that, we likely will have to wait until someone at the station files his release papers… and I hate to say it, but I doubt Akira’s release is all that high on their priority list right now.”

“Well, if that’s the case…” Futaba hummed, sitting back in her chair as a perfectly fabulous and dangerous idea popped into her head. “I bet I could speed things up a bit if I hacked into the police department’s network and-”

“Futaba, wait…!” Morgana meowed loudly, as he pawed at the young girl’s chest half-heartedly. “Didn’t Sojiro already tell you about the dangers of hacking into places like that? What if they find out what you did?”

“Mwhaha…!” Futaba laughed as she cracked her knuckles and typed furiously on her keyboard. “Did you forget who you’re talking to?? I am Alibaba, the founder of the infamous Medjed! Jumping into the police database and forging the documents for Akira’s release will be a piece of cake….! Since my uncle will be dropping the charges anyway, no-one will question the legitimacy of them! It’s the perfect crime!”

“I still don’t like the idea of messing with the police….” Morgana mumbled quietly as he curled back up in Futaba’s lap, quickly losing the fight to stay awake. “But I guess I’ll allow it… just this one time… for Akira…”

After Futaba finally worked herself to the edge of extinction, she too proceeded to pass out in her chair. It wasn’t the worst way she had ever slept, but she had done it before and would likely do so again in the future, and had gotten fairly used to it.

Futaba was only woken up the next morning when Sojiro started banging on her door.

While still half-asleep, and extremely tempted to ignore her adoptive father in favor of drifting right on back to the totally epic dream she had been in the middle of… she jumped awake when her brain realized what it was Sojiro was actually saying.

“Futaba…! The police station called and they’re releasing Akira today…” Sojiro called as he continued knocking on the closed door. “I’m not sure I understand how or why… but apparently your uncle dropped the lawsuit, so they have no reason to keep him at the station. I’m heading over now to pick him up. Just thought I’d give you the heads up, so you can meet us at Leblanc once we get back.”

At the mention of their leader’s name, Futaba jumped up out of her computer chair and rushed over to open her door, revealing Sojiro’s surprised expression.

“Well, I guess that certainly got your attention.” Sojiro chuckled as Futaba buried herself in his chest and hugged him tight.

“Can’t I just come with you, Sojiro??” Futaba pleaded. She continued to hold Sojiro tight within her grasp, as though he might have no choice but to bring her if she simply refused to let go.

“Nope. Sorry, Futaba… but I promise once I get him we’ll come right back to Leblanc. No detours,” he replied coolly, patting Futaba on the head as he managed to extricate himself from her grasp.

“Awn, Sojiro…. you’re no fun!” Futaba pouted as she crossed her arms in mock anger.

“Yeah, I’ve been told that quite a few times before.” Sojiro chuckled as he started walking back towards the stairs leading towards the front door. “We’ll be back at Leblanc before the lunch rush.”

Futaba couldn’t help but laugh at that statement. “Now you’re just being silly Sojiro… we both know Leblanc doesn’t have a lunch rush.”

If anyone else had dared to say such a thing, Futaba was sure Sojiro would have been very cross with them. However, coming from Futaba, Sojiro simply chuckled as he disappeared down the stairs and Futaba couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear as well.

After everything that happened, Akira was _finally_ coming home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!!
> 
> I'll admit, when I first started writing this chapter, I was a bit nervous writing this because I've never tried writing all of the Phantom Thieves in one scene together. There are some thieves who I feel really familiar with and then others that I'm not. Despite that, I do love that they come together so well as a team and I really enjoy their whole group dynamic. I actually ended up having a fun time trying to figure out how to write everyone together, so hopefully it all turned out okay. 
> 
> Also, I know Makoto can commonly be seen driving the Mona bus during cut scenes in some of the palaces after she joins. However, it is my understanding that Joker is still the one who drives when the group goes down to Mementos, as we as the player (i.e. Joker) are always the one 'driving' (which is definitely not the case when you are infiltrating a palace.) Since Mementos can get pretty crazy, I honestly thought it would be a reasonable thing if it took Makoto a bit of practice before she got used to driving down there, as I can see it being a completely different beast from Johanna or driving Mona around a palace, but that may just be me. 
> 
> Anyway...! If you enjoyed this chapter even the least bit, it would really mean a lot to me if you could leave a comment, even if it's just a word or two, they really do encourage me to keep writing...! <3


	4. Homecoming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello once again! I can't believe we're already to chapter 4 of this fic...! It started out as such a short and simple idea in my head and then just completely took a mind of his own. I am super thankful for all the awesome comments I have gotten on the first three chapters and I hope everyone enjoys this one as well...! 
> 
> As always, I want to give a huge thank you to anyone who has commented, given kudos, bookmarked, subscribed and all that jazz. Reading the comments I have gotten on each chapter has been super fun and always gets me super excited to keep publishing new chapters. There is one more official chapter after this one, followed by a little epilogue of sorts. 
> 
> Another HUGE thank you to [countingpaperstars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/countingpaperstars/pseuds/countingpaperstars) for once again for being my beta and helping me clean everything up so that it's ready to publish.
> 
> Without any further delay, please enjoy...!

It took Sojiro a bit longer to drive to the police station than he initially expected. He had entertained the idea of using the subway, but then, knowing he wouldn’t have the patience to deal with all the usual Friday crowds, that wasn’t really an option.

It was already almost 11am by the time Sojiro managed to reach the station. He couldn’t help but question whether or not he would actually be able to get back to the café with enough time to open up for lunch as he had assured Futaba he would before he left the house.

When he entered the double glass doors leading to the small lobby of the police station, he was pleasantly surprised to find the room almost empty, with only one other person sitting in the room.

The woman looked about his own age and was busy reading a book. She sat in one of the chairs pushed up against the opposite wall, waiting for whatever business had brought her to the station.

As Sojiro made his way towards the large reception desk, he hoped that the deserted waiting room meant they would be able to wrap things up quickly.

“Good morning,” he said, as he approached the reception desk. “I’m Sojiro Sakura and I’m here to pick up Akira Kurusu.”

A second passed by – then, a couple more, and Sojiro was just a bit confused when he received absolutely no response from the man behind the counter.

“He’s been held here for questioning for the past couple days,” Sojiro continued, his voice louder and more firm than before so that man behind the desk would have no choice but to acknowledge him. “I received a call this morning saying he was going to be released, but because he was already on probation before he was brought in, I was told my signature was needed to finalize his release paperwork.”

“Ah, yeah…” The man finally replied, still refusing to look Sojiro in the eye as he started typing half-heartedly on his computer. “The brat brought in the other night for assault… Guess you just can’t trust kids these days. They think that they can just solve all their damn problems by taking their anger out on other people. It’s a pity really… if it were up to me, he’d already be behind bars at the detention center.”

Sojiro couldn’t help but gape as he stood before the man.

Had he…? Surely, Sojiro had misheard him… or maybe, the man was talking to himself about some other matter…? No, it would be much too coincidental and would give the other man far more credit than he deserved to think that he had been referring to another matter entirely.

_Damn bastards…_ Sojiro thought to himself as his temper flared at the flagrant cynicism of the officer in front of him. _Was this the same kind of prejudice Akira had been on the receiving end of since he was brought to the station a few nights ago?_

If that _was_ true… god only knew what kind of condition he would be in once they brought him out.

_Damn, what is it about this kid that seems to attract more bad luck and bad shit in the past year than most people had to deal with throughout their entire lifetime?_

Sojiro was ashamed to admit that he himself had not been the most welcoming person when the kid first arrived in Tokyo back in April. However, after spending some time teaching him about the ways of coffee and curry, Sojiro quickly started to realize exactly how bad his preconceptions had been blown out of proportion.

Sojiro was profoundly tempted to call the man out right here and now, but knew it would do nothing but piss him off. If that happened, Sojiro was confident the surly officer would surely find or make up some inane reason to avoid or delay Akira’s release. It was clear he had already decided what kind of person Akira was, and a few pointed words from Sojiro would do nothing to change that.

The best thing Sojiro could do at this moment was to get the kid out of here as quickly as he could. In order for that to happen though, it meant Sojiro would have to settle for keeping things somewhat civil.

“Well…?” He asked impatiently, biting back his rising anger. “Are you going to bring me the release paperwork or not?”

The man chose to respond this time by rolling his eyes and proceeding to send one hell of an annoyed glare in Sojiro’s direction before letting out an irritated snort.

Turning around in his chair, he stood up and walked back towards the other end of the office where a couple of large filing cabinets were lined up against the back wall. The man rifled through them for a moment before extracting a folder and bringing it back to his desk. He opened the file, took out a paper, and slid it through the gap underneath the glass separating them.

“Sign here, here, and here… and I need initials here, there, and here too.” The man grunted as he pointed out the various places Sojiro needed to sign, before pulling it back over to his side.

“Okay, and now…?” Sojiro asked, but received nothing but another annoyed look from the man as though someone had shoved rancid food under his nose.

After a moment’s hesitation, the man eventually turned around in his chair once more and called for one of his co-workers to come over. He then handed the signed paperwork to said co-worker who disappeared down one of the back hallways.

“Have a seat,” the man responded bluntly. “They’ll bring him out shortly.”

Any hope that this matter would be taken care of in a timely manner was pretty much wiped from Sojiro’s brain, but apart from charging into the heart of the station and giving the officers another excuse to delay the kid’s release, he didn’t really have much of a choice but to do as the man said.

Sojiro waited (somewhat) patiently in the waiting room for the first thirty minutes.

The woman who had been waiting for something when he arrived left with some official looking documentation about five or ten minutes after he sat down. Sojiro had hoped that being the only one left in the station, things might move along a bit quicker from there.

In this respect however, he was most definitely wrong.

Another thirty minutes came and went, and with it came no promise or assurance that Akira was any closer to being released than the moment Sojiro had walked in through the front doors.

Had the waiting room been a crowded mess, Sojiro could understand having to wait some time before they managed to bring the kid out. However, considering the fact that the only other person that had been in the waiting room left almost an hour ago, Sojiro refused to believe that it would take over an hour just to file a single piece of paper and escort someone who had _all charges against them dropped,_ up to the front lobby.

“What in god’s name is taking so long…?” Sojiro asked, attempting to hold back the frustration and irritation in being kept waiting for so long. “You guys planning on bringing the kid out sometime today?”

“There are a number of things that need to happen before we can release suspects and our station is currently in the middle of a surge in cases. It can’t be helped that some of the more _menial_ cases end up taking longer to close than the ones that are higher priority,” the man at the desk stated quite plainly. If Sojiro didn’t know any better he was pretty damn sure he had seen the man start to smirk towards the end of it. “If you have somewhere to be today, I can always get your contact information and we will call you once we’ve squared everything away.”

Sojiro knew it was complete and utter bullshit before the words even left the man’s lips.

“Yeah, this station sure seems slammed with so many people to serve right now. It’s hard to believe you can get anything done…” Sojiro muttered sarcastically, looking around the deserted waiting room while his anger and frustration surged to new heights.

“Thanks for the offer,” Sojiro added, this time loud enough for the other man to hear. “But I think I’ll just wait here; since according to you, he should be out shortly.”

Despite anything he might say or do, the most frustrating thing was knowing that all he could actually do was to continue to sit here and wait for the officers to stop dragging their feet.

He was determined to make up for not being able to keep the promise he had made Akira that night, so many weeks ago. He had promised to protect him, and then just stood by uselessly as the officers had escorted him away.

If sitting in this damn waiting room and dealing with the glares and side-comments of these obviously prejudiced and sad excuses for law enforcement officers all day was how he could make up for not being able to keep his promise, he would do it.

After Sojiro remained steadfast in the cheap and uncomfortable lobby chairs for almost an entire additional hour, the officers must have finally accepted the fact he wasn’t going to budge and Sojiro couldn’t help but let out an enormous sigh of relief when he finally recognized that familiar black, frizzy mop that could only belong to one kid.

Sojiro had no idea what he should expect once they finally brought Akira out. Especially with the crap that he had been dealing with by being forced to wait in the waiting room for very nearly two hours for absolutely no good reason. Although he was surprisingly, and yet thankfully, underwhelmed at first glance.

“Hey, kid,” Sojiro greeted Akira as he slowly and silently walked over to where Sojiro was standing.

Akira stayed silent, merely nodding.

Despite his outward appearance, Sojiro still couldn’t help but feel like something about him felt a bit off. He wouldn’t be able to put it into words, but there was something… unsettling about the whole reunion.

In all honesty, Akira didn’t really _look_ like he had just been held for interrogation in a police station for the last couple days. After the attitude of the female officer who took him in, and the man at the check-in, Sojiro wasn’t really sure how uh, _cordial_ these officers would be during the kid’s stay.

Sojiro knew from experience that sometimes when officers lacked evidence in a largely circumstantial case like this… there were often times when they got a little, well, forceful _._

Although, looking over the kid right now, there hardly seemed to be scratch on him, except for some obvious redness and skin irritation on his wrists where he must have been handcuffed.

Sojiro certainly hadn’t been expecting a huge amount of emotion once the kid was finally brought out, but he had at least hoped Akira’s expression or body language might relax a bit once he saw a familiar face. Unfortunately enough, the kid looked just as tired and tense right now as the moment he was led away from Leblanc.

“You ready to go?” Sojiro asked lightly.

Akira nodded once more, so Sojiro didn’t waste any time in leading him back towards the station’s entrance.

Sojiro also didn’t bother trying to make any attempts at conversation until the two of them had settled back in the car. He hoped Akira might finally be able to relax once they were somewhere more familiar to him.

“I feel like this is kind of a stupid question, but how are you holding up?” Sojiro asked cautiously, not sure what else to do or say. “I’m sure you’ve got to be relieved that Futaba’s uncle dropped the charges. You’re still on probation for your original assault charge, but at least we don’t have to worry about that sorry excuse of an uncle threatening you, me, or Futaba anymore.”

“Thanks, but I’m fine.” Akira replied quietly. “Just mostly tired. Haven’t slept in… I dunno… couple days maybe…” He finished with a quick yawn as he couldn’t help but rest his head gingerly against the window. His eyelids almost immediately started dropping lower and lower, but he ultimately refused to allow himself to surrender to his fatigue completely.

Even if this was his default answer to most questions, Sojiro was thankful he got some sort of coherent reply. The kid definitely looked dead on his feet and ready to pass out at any moment, but there was still this feeling deep down in Sojiro’s gut that he wasn’t getting the whole story.

Astoundingly, by the time Sojiro pulled into Yongen-jaya, Akira was still mostly awake. He parked the car and the two of them made the short trek to Leblanc.

Before Sojiro so much as had a chance to announce their return, Futaba had already latched herself onto Akira, a couple of small tears falling down her face as she held on to him as tightly as she could.

A smile flickered up on Akira’s face at the energetic greeting, but it was wiped away just as fast.

“Akira….!” Futaba nearly squealed in excitement. “I’m so glad you’re okay…! I thought for sure that it was game over, but it’s like you got an extra life instead! I’m so glad that my stupid uncle finally came to his senses and dropped the lawsuit. We’re definitely going to have to celebrate tonight…! I was starting to think you guys had ditched me and gone out to eat – oh, Sojiro…! We should celebrate by going out to that great sushi place together again! I was so full after we went there last time, but it was so totally worth it…!” 

“Okay Futaba, why don’t you give Akira a chance to catch his breath before you squeeze it all out of him,” Sojiro suggested, and although Futaba didn’t seem too thrilled with the idea of letting go, she eventually caved and released Akira from her vice-like grip.

“Hey kid, you hungry?” Sojiro asked, not even wanting to know how much (or little) he had eaten since the officers had first taken him away. “I can’t imagine they fed you all that well while you were at the station, so I was gonna go ahead and heat up some curry I prepared last night. Then, you can go upstairs and catch up on some sleep if you want.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Akira replied quietly. He nodded and started unsteadily making his way back towards the stairs leading up to his room.

Sojiro found it near impossible to miss the look of concern now fixed upon Futaba’s features.

“What’s wrong, Sojiro?” she asked. “My uncle dropped the charges. Akira doesn’t have to worry about being sent to the detention center… shouldn’t he… you know… be happy…? Or at least relieved?”

Sojiro sighed, pausing as he carefully considered his words. “He’s…. been through a lot over the past couple of weeks; especially the past couple days. I’m sure he’s just mentally and physically exhausted. Let’s let him get some rest and we can figure the rest out tomorrow.”

“Hmm… yeah, I guess I can do that.” Futaba sighed sadly as she wandered back over to her usual spot at the bar. Things were definitely not going the way she had expected them to when Sojiro woke her up this morning. Akira was home now and safe from her stupid uncle, so she guessed she should at least be happy about that.

* * *

The rest of the day went by rather uneventfully in Futaba’s opinion.

Sojiro had taken some food up to Akira’s room, but came back down with it almost immediately when he saw the kid already fast asleep on his bed. It was pretty clear Akira was a lot more exhausted than he wanted to admit. Sojiro noticed Akira didn’t bother changing his clothes before promptly passing out right on top of his bed, comforter and all.

Sojiro wrapped up the single serving of curry, placing it in the refrigerator so it would be ready whenever Akira decided he wanted to eat it.

Futaba hung around the café for the majority of the day, before eventually getting discouraged when Akira never came back downstairs. Things didn’t get any better when Sojiro refused to let her go upstairs because he said Akira shouldn’t be bothered when what he needed most right now was to catch up on some well-needed sleep.

She eventually headed back to the house, hoping she would run into Morgana along the way, so she could get his opinion on everything that had happened.

The rest of Friday came and went, and then it was Saturday.

It was obvious in the morning that Akira was not ready to return to school, so Sojiro called the school and let them know he would not be returning to his classes today.

Akira had spent the bulk of his time since he had arrived back at the café sleeping; but for the odd couple of hours that he managed to stay awake, he mostly stayed up in his room and kept to himself.

Whenever Sojiro, Futaba or Morgana tried to go upstairs and talk with him or ask him if he needed anything, he just shook his head and went back to reading his book, playing on his phone, or whatever task he had been half-heartedly doing before they had come up.

This behavior was unusual to say the least, and no-one seemed to have any luck in figuring out exactly why Akira was acting even more withdrawn and quiet than normal.

In Futaba’s words – “It’s like he’s got some permanent debuff, but we don’t know what kind, so it’s gonna pretty much be impossible to get rid of until we figure it out.”

In the end, the only thing that Futaba could think of to help was to call the one person that she knew was closer to Akira than anyone else. The only person she could think of who might stand a chance of getting Akira to open up about whatever it was that was going on before he completely self-destructed.

* * *

“Hey, Ryuji…?” Futaba asked as she heard the other line pick up. “Do you uh, think you could drop by Leblanc tonight at some point?”

“Hmm… uh- yeah, guess I could.” Ryuji answered casually. “I didn’t really have any plans, although it’s funny you called, cause I was actually just about to message Akira to see if he wanted to hang out tonight. I was thinking we could celebrate his release from the police station and play some games or whatever. Maybe even go out and get some ramen if he’s feeling up to it. What’s up with the special request? Everything okay?”

“Good,” Futaba replied. “I’ll tell you everything when you get here… Don’t be too slow or you’ll be a disgrace to all the other track students out there…!”

“What…? Wait, Futaba I-” Ryuji stammered in equal parts surprise and confusion as the line went dead.

_Damn… guess I’ll find out what’s going on once I get there._ Ryuji finished packing up all his things and started heading in the direction of Shujin’s front entrance. _I wonder if Futaba is calling everyone over for some Phantom Thieves thing again…? But if she was doing that, why not just text everyone in the chat…? Oh well, no use thinking about all the possibilities right now, I guess._

Despite the consistent delays with the subway due in part by all of the recent accidents, Ryuji was able to get home without too much delay. He knew that Futaba told him he didn’t have to come over until later in the evening, but he couldn’t stop thinking about what the heck she could be scheming.

Ryuji managed to change out of his school uniform and grab a quick bite to eat before he lost all patience with the situation; rushing out the door as he let his mother know he would be back sometime later that night.

It wasn’t hard to get a train over to Yongen-jaya and in what felt like record time, Ryuji found himself standing right outside the entrance to Leblanc. However, before he even had a chance to grasp the handle, the door quickly shot open to reveal an incredibly anxious looking Futaba.

“Futaba? What the-” Ryuji started to ask before she covered his mouth with one of her hands and attempted to push him back towards the narrow alley connecting the laundromat and bathhouse directly across from Leblanc.

“Sorry about that…” Futaba apologized in a low whisper. “I just wanted to get a chance to touch base with you before… uh, you go talk to Akira.”

“Okay…” Ryuji whispered back, because that was apparently the thing they were doing right now. “Futaba, I think it’s about time you tell me what the heck is going on here, cause I am completely fucking lost. First, you call me with some sort of cryptic message to come over to Leblanc, and then when I actually get here, you don’t even want me to go up and talk with Akira? Like, what the hell… is this just some kind of huge prank or something?”

“No, it’s not…! Promise!” Futaba countered nervously, not wanting Ryuji to misunderstand why she called the blonde over. “I’ll explain, I promise…! Just gimme a sec, okay?”

“Yeah, sure… okay.” Ryuji replied, absentmindedly started kicking his shoes against the ground as he did so.

“So you remember when I brought everyone to Leblanc after Akira was taken to the police station…? And then we went into Mementos and changed my uncle’s heart?” She asked and Ryuji nodded. “Yeah, well… it doesn’t seem like things were wrapped up quite as nicely as we thought they would be…”

Futaba told Ryuji all about Akira’s strange behavior since coming back from the police station and how he had essentially locked himself up in his room, all but flat out refusing to talk with anyone who came up. He always gave the same response no matter what questions they asked him, ‘I’m fine… just tired.’

“I don’t know what’s going on, but he is definitely NOT fine…!” Futaba nearly cried. “I’ve tried everything I can think of … asking him to watch the kind of movies I know he likes, playing video games we’ve always played together, or even watching really ridiculous videos on the internet; but he still refuses to talk or do anything with me…! I’m really worried Ryuji… he’s _never_ acted like this. I just don’t know what to do to help him feel better…” She continued; the look of desperation written all over her features as she attempted to fight back tears. “But you’ve got a stronger bond with him than anyone else I know… if anyone has a chance of getting through to him with this, it has to be you!”

“Yeah…” Ryuji replied, scratching his head nervously. “Of course I’ll do what I can. I know what a hard ass he can be. He always means well and does what he thinks is right for everyone around him, but I’ve noticed that he has a stubborn tendency not to do the same for himself.”

Futaba nodded as she attempted to wipe away the dampness that had gathered around her eyes.

“Anything else I need to know?”

“Hmm…” Futaba hummed thoughtfully. “Don’t think so. I’m pretty sure I covered everything. Just make sure you help him… for all of us, okay?”

“Hell yeah, I will.” Ryuji grinned, lightly patting Futaba’s head as he started walking purposefully back towards Leblanc.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to everyone for reading!!
> 
> Fun(?) Fact... for anyone who has read the p5 spin-off manga Mementos Mission (which if you haven't, then you 100% must because Akiren is so drawn so fucking pretty in it, it's really unfair xD) you might recognize that the way the officer at the desk in the station (in this chapter) talked about Akiren is pretty similar to the way that the officer's in the manga talk about him. It honestly makes me mad at how rude they are with him, but it also served as a basis for why all the officers are shit to our most precious Akiren in this fic. T.T No spoilers in case y'all haven't read it yet, but in chapter 6 of Mementos Mission, Akiren does actually have to make a statement at the police station about something and it's really easy to see how uncomfortable he is while he's there and how the officers are not even trying to hide how they feel about him. 
> 
> BUT ANYWAY... If you enjoyed this chapter at all, it would really mean a lot to me if you could leave a comment, even if it's just a word or two, they really do encourage me to keep writing...! <3


	5. Reconciliation and Release

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are... at chapter 5, where everything is going to come together and Akira will finally get all the love and fluff that he rightfully deserves, though it's going to take a bit of effort on Ryuji's part...! Thank you to everyone who has commented, lefts kudos and the like. All the support I have received for this fic has been phenomenal, so thanks. :)
> 
> This was 100% my favorite chapter to write and I also found it fitting that the chapter where we finally get some wholesome Pegoryu fluff also gets published during Pegoryu week. I didn't intend for that to happen, but I'm super glad that it did. So I guess this is like my unofficial contribution to Pegoryu week. <3
> 
> As always, a huge shoutout to [countingpaperstars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/countingpaperstars/pseuds/countingpaperstars) whose support and help with editing has been absolutely invaluable through this entire process.
> 
> The only thing left after this chapter will be a cute, fluffy epilogue, so I hope y'all stay tuned for that...!
> 
> Enjoy!

Everything felt the same as it always did when Ryuji entered Leblanc. He greeted Sojiro with a casual wave, as the older man looked up from the curry ingredients he was in the middle of prepping.

“You here to try and talk some sense into him?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna do my best,” Ryuji replied, sounding much more confident than how he actually felt.

Akira was an individual who excelled at many things and that was just one of many reasons which contributed to him being such an invaluable leader. Although, as fate would have it, with the good things also came the bad; and if there was one particular thing Ryuji hated that Akira was so good at, it was stubbornly insisting nothing was wrong even as his entire world was crumbling down around him.

Ryuji knew first-hand how dangerous behaviors like that could be, which only served to further renew his determination to help Akira work through whatever it was that was bothering him so much.

“Wish me luck,” Ryuji joked as he passed in front of the other man.

“Good luck,” Sojiro replied seriously. “You’re gonna need it.”

Ryuji couldn’t help but let out an anxious laugh at the unexpected response. “Ah- yeah… thanks.”

* * *

Once Ryuji disappeared up the stairs, Sojiro couldn’t help but smile.

_ Hmm… looks like I’m short a couple of ingredients for finishing tonight’s batch of curry,  _ Sojiro thought to himself. _ Guess there’s no way around it… _

“You two better not burn down my café while I’m out at the store…!” Sojiro called loudly, so that those upstairs would be able to hear him. He made sure to carefully store all of his ingredients and take off his apron, before grabbing his hat and heading towards the door.

_ Maybe I’ll take my time and see how things work from the other side of a counter for once,  _ Sojiro thought as he exited the café. He flipped the sign on the door and eventually disappeared down the backstreets of Yongen-jaya.

* * *

As Ryuji entered the attic, he immediately recognized Akira’s trademark tousled black hair, sticking out in obvious fashion from behind the comforter that had all but consumed him. As Ryuji continued to stride closer though, he couldn’t help but notice that very same hair looked a bit messier and more disheveled than it usually did.

“Hey… Akira? You alive in there, dude?” Ryuji asked as he started pulling back the comforter so he could actually see and talk to his friend. This merely resulted in Akira half-heartedly attempting to pull the comforter back up and over himself again.

“Sorry Ryuji…. I’m not really in the mood to hang-out today,” Akira replied softly as he continued his vain attempt to regain control of the comforter.

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing I’m not here to hang out with you,” Ryuji replied, refusing to let go and allow the other to try and hide himself away again.

“…”

“Then… what are you doing here…?” Akira asked. He sighed, finally giving up on any attempts to regain control of his comforter, and yet still refusing to turn around to face the blonde.

“Well, for one thing, I’m worried about you.” Ryuji paused before continuing, “Heck… everyone’s worried about you… Futaba told me you haven’t really eaten or done much else other than sleep since you got back from the station yesterday. So, what’s up with that?”

“Yeah well… sleep… wasn’t exactly an option while I was there so-” Akira started to say before he was cut off.

“You know, “Ryuji started with a chuckle, “That’s exactly what Futaba told me you would say.”

“Yeah, because it’s  _ the truth _ ,” Akira shot back as he buried his face even further into his pillow. “Seriously… I’m just  _ fucking tired _ . So if everyone could just leave me alone, I might  _ actually _ be able to catch up on some sleep.”

“I know I wasn’t there for really any of this… but I think it’s pretty damn obvious that there’s more to this than just you being tired. You know we all just want to help you… right?  _ I _ want to help you, so if you need to talk-”

“I already  _ told _ you…” Akira shot back again, making it was clear his usually endless patience had already started to reach a breaking point. “If you  _ really _ want to help… just leave me alone and go home.  _ I. AM. FINE. _ ”

“Oh yeah.” Ryuji would have laughed had he not been so irritated by Akira’s endless persistence in denying everything. “You’re  _ totally _ fine… That must be why you’re flying off the handle with every little thing I say.  _ FINE, MY ASS. _ ”

After a quick beat of hesitation, Akira suddenly shot up from where he had been laying on his side, now sitting up straight and staring Ryuji down with as much unfiltered frustration laid across his features as exhaustion.

Instead of yelling anything back though, he elected to rip his shirt up and over his head so his entire torso was exposed and bare for Ryuji to see.

“Do you see any bruises, bleeding, or anything…?! No??” Akira asked harshly. “Yeah, well that’s because they didn’t lay a finger on me apart from when they handcuffed me to that stupid interrogation table for 48 hours!” He huffed angrily, his usually perfectly fabricated mask of neutrality nowhere to be seen. “You happy now…?”

When Ryuji took a moment to really think about it, he quickly realized Futaba hadn’t specifically mentioned anything about Akira being physically assaulted while in police custody. She  _ had _ made a point to talk about how harsh and even downright rude the female officer had been while she had been addressing Akira in Leblanc the night he was taken though.

So, Ryuji’s brain apparently decided to go ahead and assume the reason Akira must be so out of sorts was because he was trying to hide whatever physical injuries he received as a result of being held at the station. Although, judging by what he could see (or more importantly, could  _ not _ see) in front of his own two eyes, that was obviously not the case.

“Okay, so… if they didn’t actually hurt you… what is it that’s got you so messed up?” Ryuji replied, genuinely confused and completely stumped.

“It’s nothing-”

“And I already told you, that’s a huge load of bull,” Ryuji came back, absolutely refusing to back down this time. “C’mon dude… I know I may not be smart like Futaba or Makoto… but at least give me  _ some _ credit here. Even  _ I _ can see there’s something you’re not telling me. That’s why I refuse to believe it when you say they didn’t do anything… they obviously did  _ something _ . I don’t care how long it takes, or how many times you  _ say _ that you’re fine even though it’s pretty damn, fucking obvious that you’re not.”

There was a real fear in Ryuji’s mind that the two of them would be doomed to argue back and forth like this for the rest of the night. On any normal day, Ryuji usually gave in after the first five times Akira assured him everything was fine. Mainly ‘cause he didn’t want to piss Akira off or ruin things for the rest of the night… but tonight? Tonight was far too important for Ryuji to take the coward’s way out like that.

However, right as Ryuji started thinking about what he could possibly say next to get Akira to open up, something seemed to snap within Akira and his expression broke out into something of unrivaled fury and frustration.

“That’s the exact fucking problem, okay?!” he shouted, louder than Ryuji was sure he had ever heard the other yell before. “I was expecting ALL of it! The beatings…! The abuse at the hands of those bastard cops, just like fucking last time…! In fact, I was  _ counting _ on it! But you know what they did? Absolutely. Fucking. Nothing.”

Akira’s shoulders heaved up and down as he finished and he was breathing so heavily anyone would have thought he had just finished running a marathon or something. Through it all though, Akira had refused to pull his eyes away from the blonde’s in front of him, just daring the other to continue denying his words.

And Ryuji? All Ryuji could do was stand there; completely slack-jawed as he attempted to try and comprehend his best friend’s sudden outburst and what the words behind them really meant.

“Okay… well, uh- now I’m  _ really  _ confused…” Ryuji muttered. “If you really are telling the truth…” He paused before quickly noting the heightened look of pure, unadulterated desperation on Akira’s face. Raising his hands, he quickly added, “And I totally believe you…! But then… uh- I kinda still fail to see… what the problem is here…?”

Akira’s expression was a mix of many emotions now, but ultimately he remained silent, so Ryuji took it as an invitation to keep going.

“It doesn’t explain why you haven’t let Futaba, Sojiro, or even Morgana come up here… or why you’ve refused to leave your room. Like, I get the whole being tired thing… but this just isn’t… like you, you know? I’ve seen you do more stuff with little to no sleep than the rest of our fully rested team put together. Which is why, I dunno… I just feel like there has to be something more…?”

Ryuji genuinely wished he could think of a less stupid way for him to accurately convey his feelings to Akira without them getting all jumbled up like always seemed to. No matter what he did or said though, it always seemed like the most important bits got lost in translation. The thing Ryuji hated most right now was the clear and obvious expression of hurt plastered across Akira’s face. Maybe he  _ was _ right and there wasn’t anything physically wrong with him… but that didn’t mean he wasn’t hurting in other ways.

Ryuji would give  _ anything… DO anything _ to find a way to take all that hurt away. He just wasn’t exactly sure  _ how _ to do that… especially considering how highly guarded Akira was with all his true thoughts and feelings, locking them all away where he thought no-one could find them.

“Please… Akira,” Ryuji all but begged. “I hate seeing you like this… All I want to do is help. You know, pay you back just a little bit after everything you have done to help me and everyone else? I don’t care how stupid you think it is, or how insignificant it might feel. You hear all the stupid shit that bothers me on a daily basis, so I’m sure whatever is bothering you is loads better than any of my petty little problems.”

Ryuji watched hopefully as Akira took a deep breath and proceeded to slowly pull his shirt back on over his head. After another brief moment of silence, Akira chose to break their eye contact to instead stare intently at the crumpled bed sheets gathered in his lap.

“I already told you…” He breathed lightly, his voice more timid and vulnerable than ever. “They didn’t  _ DO  _ anything…”

“If you’re still going to-”

“I’m not trying to deny anything, really… I just…” Akira insisted, before his voice just sort of drifted off.

“I’m afraid you’re gonna have to give me a little more than that dude… ‘cause I’m still as lost now as I was when I got here.”

“Everything from that night with Futaba’s uncle is still kinda… I don’t know… fuzzy…? I don’t remember a lot of it to be honest, but I do remember my body completely freezing up.” Akira frowned, grabbing at his sheets and wringing them together.

“Even now, I still don’t really know what happened. Everything was fine until it was like this switch in my brain got flipped. All of a sudden I kept flashing back to when I got arrested back in my hometown and I couldn’t help but feel terrified that it was happening all over again.” He paused before continuing, his words now starting to come out faster and faster.

“I spent the next two weeks unable to rid myself of this perpetual state of constant anxiety that hovered over me no matter what I did. When I think back on it now though, it just seems so stupid because not one of the things I was so terrified about happening happened. I got myself so worked up for absolutely no reason.”

Ryuji had so many questions, but he wasn’t about to try and stop Akira now that his friend was finally starting to open up.

“When I was brought to the station and interrogated this time, the officers didn’t waste any time in telling me exactly what they thought of me. They called me names and looked down on me like I was some sort of hardened criminal scum. Although, if I’m being honest, that’s not really all that different from most of the stuff I hear at Shujin on a daily basis. And yeah, the officers pretty much interrogated me non-stop from the moment I arrived until the moment Sojiro came to pick me up. It was pretty damn clear that they had their minds made up about me and all they needed to cement their case was an official confession.” Another quick breath and a deep, shameful frown before Akira kept going.

“It’s totally ridiculous though, right?” He couldn’t help but laugh at himself with a sad, self-deprecating glint in his eyes. “I’ve been through so much worse… but  _ nothing _ has ever affected me like this.” Akira’s face fell further into a mess of pity and self-loathing, and it took every ounce of self-control Ryuji possessed to keep him from bursting into tears and hugging the crap out of his best friend right then and there.

“If we want to talk about the first time I was arrested… now  _ that was _ nasty.” Akira laughed again as his gaze seemed to travel someplace far away. “The officers didn’t limit themselves to verbal insults back then… They had absolutely no problem restraining me and making sure that I couldn’t defend myself as they tried their best to beat a confession out of me.” Akira didn’t miss the way Ryuji’s face paled in response to this particular revelation, but this was what Ryuji had begged him so tirelessly for… so why hold back now?

“I know I told you the general gist of what happened to me before, but there was a lot of stuff I chose to leave out.” Akira frowned, knowing the cat was finally out of the bag. “We had just formed the Phantom Thieves and you guys had already decided to make me the leader. I didn’t want to ruin everything by having you and Ann realize how broken I really am, so I just decided to go with it.

“Compared to all the crazy battles we’ve gone through in the Metaverse… this was nothing. Even when you and I got captured by Kamoshida’s shadow on the first day I came to Shujin and we were about to be killed, I didn’t lose my nerve then…. so why now? Why was it THIS thing, where basically NOTHING happened to me, that shattered my resolve so completely?” Akira asked, now pulling his knees up against his chest and hiding his face in his hands. His voice didn’t get any quieter though, in fact it was quite the opposite. 

“I’m supposed to be the goddamn fearless leader of the Phantom Thieves!” Akira shouted in sheer and utter frustration. “I can’t be the leader that everyone needs if I’m weak enough to let something as stupid as this get to me! You guys deserve so much better than me as your leader…”

Ryuji could see tears starting to gather at the corner of Akira’s eyes, and as if to slight him even further, a couple of those unyielding drops burst free with his last proclamation. They trickled down his cheeks as they betrayed Akira’s futile attempt to remain even somewhat composed after everything he had just said.

And then, a sudden realization hit Ryuji like a ton of bricks.

If everything that Akira was saying was true, and he had absolutely no doubt in his mind that it was, it meant that this wasn’t just one isolated event that had popped up with in the last couple of weeks to cause this. Akira had been hurting like this for who even knew how long… and like the dumbass he was, Ryuji had been completely oblivious and unconcerned the entire time.

What a great fucking excuse for a friend he was.

“Fuck… Akira, I don’t even know where to start…” Ryuji mumbled as he reached out his hands so he could hold Akira’s tightly within his own. “There’s so much I want to say and so much I want to apologize for, but I’m shit with words. If I can’t say exactly what I want to, I want you to look at me and know that I really appreciate you for trusting me with any of this.”

“…”

“I’m serious, Akira.” Ryuji repeated. “I know it probably sounds stupid or corny as all hell, but I’m not kidding when I say that I need you to look at me. I need you to see that I mean every single fucking word.”

Ryuji was damn near ready to break, when mercifully, Akira finally looked up from the spot he had been staring at so intently. His eyes were red and damp and it was obvious that he was still trying to fight back the well of tears threatening to break through and start flowing down his face.

“It may be true that we all look to you to be our fearless leader, and guide us on the right path through all our missions and shit…  _ BUT, _ that doesn’t mean that you need to bottle up all of your emotions inside and pretend like nothing ever bothers you. You have just as much a right as anyone else to get upset by whatever the hell it might be, big or small.” Ryuji wasn’t sure if he was making any fucking sense at all, but it was the best he could do right now. “I can’t even imagine what it must have been like to actually go through half the shit you’ve gone through… but if you ever want to vent, you gotta know that I’m always ready and willing to listen.”

Akira’s expression remained unchanged, but Ryuji was at least thankful his best friend was still looking at him because he  _ needed _ Akira to hear what he was saying.

“If you keep bottling everything up and trying to hold it in, it’s just gonna keep building and building until you break,” Ryuji urged, squeezing the other’s hands tightly. “And where will the Phantom Thieves be left then? Trying to uselessly put all of our leader’s broken pieces back together into a shell of his former self? Cause no fucking thank you, I absolutely refuse to accept that.”

As the silence descended, Ryuji could only hope and pray that he had managed to get it through Akira’s stubbornly thick skull that he didn’t need to suffer on his own anymore.

And then, it was in that singular moment that Akira’s carefully built and maintained mental walls finally came crashing down.

“…’m sorry… I…I d-didn’t- I mean… I d-don’t….” Akira choked out, before Ryuji did the one thing he had wanted to do since the moment he got here, and pulled the trembling and unsteady boy in front of him into a tight and supportive hug.

“You idiot…” Ryuji couldn’t help but laugh. “Just talk to me next time… okay?”

Akira nodded lightly, squeezing Ryuji back just as tightly; and just like that, Akira was finally able to let go of all of the tears he had been holding back for so long. He pressed his face into Ryuji’s shoulder as he proceeded to cry his eyes out without any fear or shame of being judged.

He was able to let go all of the anxiety, and all of the pain and suffering he had been shouldering on his own for what felt like forever. Akira was sure he had never felt so comfortable as he was at the very moment, finally letting all his feelings out bare for Ryuji to see.

The sheer fact that Ryuji was there and that, for once, Akira didn’t have to hide his true feelings or worry about what others might think of him gave him a feeling he wasn’t sure he had ever felt before. It was easily one of the most cathartic moments he had ever experienced and Akira wasn’t sure that he would ever be able to thank Ryuji enough for continuing to fight for this moment no matter what.

Ryuji knew how much Akira needed and deserved this moment, so he stayed exactly where he was until Akira finally ran out of tears to cry.

After a couple minutes passed and Akira’s breathing started to even out, he could feel himself slowly starting to drift off. He was so comfortable and far too tired and knew it would only be a matter of time before his exhausted mind and body completely surrendered. 

Futaba, Sojiro, and Morgana may have thought that he had been doing nothing but sleeping since they had returned from the police station, but in reality that couldn’t further from the truth.

Sure, he had spent the majority of the time laying in his bed, but any sleep he had managed to get certainly couldn’t be described as restful. The time he had spent while he was awake had mostly been staring at his ceiling or getting way too stuck inside his own thoughts and feelings. It had been stressful and uncharacteristically exhausting, and had just kept getting worse and worse as the cycle refused to subside.

“You feeling any better?” Ryuji asked hopefully.

Akira simply nodded, knowing that even if he did have the energy to say something it would undoubtedly get too muffled for Ryuji to understand it.

“Good.” Ryuji smiled. “I was starting to get worried I wasn’t gonna be able to reach you, but I’m glad you let me. You mean a lot to me, you know? And well, you mean a lot to a whole bunch of other people too. I know it can be hard for you to let people in, but I appreciate that you trusted me enough to tell me what was bothering you.”

Akira nodded again, but was honestly far too content and sleepy to really carry on the conversation in any significant fashion, though he had a feeling Ryuji would understand.

“So…. uh, you wanna watch a movie or something?” Ryuji asked, to which he was pretty sure he had seen Akira’s shoulders rise and fall ever so slightly and decided to take that as a yes.

“Hmm…” Ryuji muttered as he debated on what the easiest thing to set up would be. “Oh, wait…! What about that new show we started watching recently? Didn’t you say that you finally found a new disc available at the DVD rental store?”

“…mhm, yeah…” Akira mumbled as he regretfully lifted his head and started to extricate himself from Ryuji’s careful and supportive hold, “… Disc’s next to the TV-”

“You stay here, I got this,” Ryuji cut in as he jumped off the bed, already half-way to the TV before the other even had the chance to argue.

Ryuji quickly popped open the plastic case, turned on the TV, and let the movie start playing through all the previews. He returned to a now quickly wilting Akira, who was already sagging to the side as his eyelids continued to droop lower and lower.

“Okay, we should be good to go,” Ryuji said as he returned with a grin. “You want to head over and get settled on the couch before you completely crash? Mix things up a bit?”

There was another light nod from Akira and a smile from Ryuji.

It took a little bit of effort here and there and Ryuji all but ended up having to carry Akira from where he had been slumped on his bed over to the couch. With enough effort he managed to also grab a blanket and pillow they could use once they got comfortable on the couch.

Once Akira was deposited on the couch however, Ryuji realized the current set up probably wouldn’t be the most conducive to watching things. In order to remedy this, he dragged out the small folding table they always used for their PT meetings and placed the TV on it so both he and Akira could easily watch it without straining.

Ryuji returned to the couch and helped a still somewhat vaguely awake Akira arrange himself so his head was laying on the pillow now sitting in Ryuji’s lap and the blanket covered both to keep them nice and warm.

Ryuji wasn’t surprised in the slightest when he saw Akira was already fast asleep before the opening credits had even finished rolling. If there was one thing Akira needed though, it was sleep, and Ryuji was more than happy to serve his role as a glorified pillow in addition to the actual pillow Akira had already fallen asleep on.

Ryuji really hoped this would be the last time he would have to learn of some tirelessly guarded secret Akira had hidden away until it came bursting to the surface. Although, if he had learned anything about Akira since they met, it probably wasn’t. At least maybe Akira would be a little more forthcoming once the next big revelation came along…? One could certainly hope.

Akira barely even stirred over the next couple of hours and before Ryuji knew it, the sun had long since gone down. He had nearly been about to drift off for a little nap himself, when he heard what sounded like footsteps from downstairs walking up to the attic.

“I’m guessing you were able to sort things out with him after all?” Sojiro asked, his grin betraying the usual neutral mask he kept up while around other people.

“Yeah,” Ryuji replied with a soft chuckle, glancing down warmly at the boy resting on his lap, “It was looking a little rough for a while, but I eventually got him to come around.”

“Glad to hear it,” Sojiro remarked, relieved that maybe everyone would finally be able to put this whole ordeal behind them once and for all. “I know Futaba’s going to be relieved to hear that you were able to help him. That girl’s been worried sick ever since I brought him home from the station. I don’t think I’ve seen her this riled up since I started submitting the paperwork to take custody of her from her uncle.”

“Yeah, she can get pretty worked up when she wants to.” Ryuji couldn’t help but laugh again. “But she always comes through and honestly, it’s thanks to her that I was able to come over here in the first place. Be sure to tell her thanks when you see her tonight, okay?”

“Yeah.” Sojiro nodded. “I can do that.”

“Thanks.”

“Also…” Sojiro continued as he started walking back down the stairs, “it’s not really any of my business what your plans for the rest of the night are, but for the record, you  _ are _ welcome to stay here as long as you want. I’m not one to talk, but I’m sure the kid would appreciate it. After all, this is probably the most relaxed I’ve ever seen him.”

“Thanks, Boss.”

It was something that honestly hadn’t even really crossed Ryuji's mind, but when he looked down at his phone he was reminded of how late it actually was. He knew if he wanted to catch the last train back home, he would likely have to run to the station within the next couple of minutes, even with it as close as it was.

Thankfully, it was a Saturday night… and that meant Ryuji wouldn’t have to worry about having to get ready to get up and go to school tomorrow. He had started to drift off right before Sojiro had come up anyway, so it probably wouldn’t be hard for him to actually fall asleep. Before he did that though, he made sure to send a quick message to his mom letting her know he wouldn’t be coming home tonight.

Once he was positive the message had been sent, Ryuji grabbed the remote and turned the tv off before leaning against the back of the sofa and closing his eyes. He had fallen asleep in much worse positions, so this was nothing. If he found himself cramping at some point during the night, he was sure he would be able to work something out.

As he started falling deeper and deeper into his own slumber, Ryuji couldn’t help but think about everything that had happened today. He was glad that he had finally been able to pay Akira back at least a little bit for everything the other had done for him. In fact, Ryuji was determined to continue to do so any time he could going forward, because that was what Akira deserved.

Akira deserved to surround himself with friends and everyone else that cared about him. He deserved to have the opportunity to allow all of these people to support him in the same way Akira supported them. No-one should have to make their way in the world alone and although Akira seemed to be a magnet for trouble and chaos, Ryuji was determined to stay right by his side through it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading!!!
> 
> If you enjoyed this chapter at all, it would really mean a lot to me if you could leave a comment, even if it's just a word or two...! I love hearing everyone's thoughts about the chapter and the characters and whatnot. I especially love it when people just come into my comments to rave about how much they love Akiren and how he deserves all the love... cause well, it's 100% true. xD


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